For Community News Service, a VTSU-Castleton internship for the Rutland Herald.
Some say love at first sight is only found in Hollywood movies, a feeling of electricity that shoots through the body with just the touch of a finger.
Katherine Humphrey Chesterton and William “Billy” Jasinski knew the connection they made in second grade was special; however, they didn’t know that 40 years later they would make it to the Top 10 of the Americans’ Favorite Couple contest — a contest sponsored by Variety Magazine where couples compete for a $20,000 prize.
“I must have filled something out when I was home recovering from my breast cancer surgery,” Chesterton said. “Lo and behold, I didn’t know we would be chosen for the contest!”
Jasinski’s sister, Janice Pomeroy, said that once they clued her in, she would hop online and vote for them every day.
Chesterton lives part-time in Pittsford. After purchasing her sister’s half of her parents’ house and recognizing the importance of keeping it in the family, Chesterton and Jasinski are in the process of remodeling their future home there.
“It’s been wonderful to do and create something beautiful together through hard work,” Chesterton said.
When not together in Vermont, Jasinski lives in New Jersey and Chesterton is an art teacher at Collins PreK-8 School in Riverview, Florida. Chesterton comes up to Vermont for June and July, a couple weeks in December and, sometimes, a week in November for Thanksgiving, taking advantage of school breaks. Jasinski has less availability with work but drives up for a couple of long weekends when Chesterton is there.
Both being 60, they are approaching the end of their careers and said they are excited to plan their retirement together.
“We want to be snowbirds and see our country via BMW motorcycle with a sidecar for a dog,” Chesterton said.
Despite the distance, Chesterton and Jasinski said they have the same feelings every time they see each other as they did that first day in second grade.
“It’s the same exact feeling,” Jasinski said. “Even though there is a 40-something-year gap, it seems like it’s not there, and it’s the same butterflies all over again.”
In 1973, Jasinski’s family moved from New Jersey to North Reading, Massachusetts, making him the new kid at J.T. Hood Elementary. It was already hard to make friends, but the polished Buster Browns, polyester slacks, collared shirt, and sweater vest his mother sent him in only encouraged fights with other children.
“There was only one person who talked to me,” Jasinski said. “And that was Kathy.”
When Chesterton and Jasinski first met, they were young, and dating wasn’t really a thing. They knew they had feelings for each other, and Chesterton would sit right next to Jasinski on the carpet during storytime.
“She started leaning her head on me, and my heart just literally skipped a beat,” Jasinski said.
As a child, you don’t know what those emotions are, but for Jasinski, the little pigtailed girl became “his” immediately.
But once junior high hit, it wasn’t long until Chesterton and Jasinski’s love story came to an end.
“I just remember seeing him and then all of a sudden, he wasn’t there,” Chesterton said.
After finding out taxes were cheaper just two towns over, Jasinski’s parents decided to move once again, requiring him to change schools.
Being pre-internet, Chesterton had no way of knowing where her crush had gone.
“We just went about our lives not knowing what had happened to each other,” Jasinski said.
As life continued, both of them had gone through many ups and downs. Chesterton had been married twice, with a daughter from each husband. Jasinski had gotten married three times, didn’t have any children, and unfortunately dealt with some legal troubles.
Despite the long journey, the young kids eventually made it through.
As Jasinski’s mother got older, she moved in with his sister in 2018. Pomeroy said she never really met Chesterton until a couple of years ago when visiting Vermont.
“Their relationship just seems very natural,” Pomeroy said.
Chesterton said it was great to actually meet her instead of seeing her from a distance as a child.
“His sister used to scare me when we were younger because she is six years older,” Chesterton said through a laugh. “And back then it seemed like a huge difference.”
During the moving process, Jasinski found a box labeled “Billy,” containing various components of his elementary school years, including the sixth-grade picture that he posted to Facebook soon after.
“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s Billy,’” Chesterton said when seeing his post on her feed.
After seeing the picture and finding the two of them standing side-by-side in the back row, Chesterton wrote to Billy, explaining the big crush she had on him as kids.
“That was the moment I realized this was something big,” Jasinski said.
In the summer of that year, Jasinski rode his BMW up to Vermont, meeting Chesterton in the Hannaford parking lot. The couple has been together on and off since.
“It was kind of a relationship, kind of not,” Chesterton said. “We are divided by many miles and states.”
One of the couple’s biggest goals is to give back, something Chesterton was always taught from a young age.
“My mom would always say, ‘If you can find a way, give back,’” Chesterton said through tears. “My time is limited, but to give back to your communities in any way is very important; I just don’t want to leave this world without trying to do better.”
For Chesterton and Jasinski, it’s not about the money. It’s faith and love that get them through day-to-day.
“My grandma used to say to me, ‘You always know when you hold someone’s hand. Hold her hand, and that will tell you everything you need to know,’” Jasinski said.