How the common thread of their OLS beginnings led Anne Bensel and Steve Steinthal back into each other’s lives and ultimately, to tie that thread into a knot!
Steve Steinthal and Anne Bensel remember their days at OLS fondly. Steve was in the class of ’79 and Anne was in the class of ’80. They were friends back then but nothing more. “I was a cheerleader for his basketball team in fifth grade and seventh grade,” says Anne. “And I remember him in the play My Fair Lady.” “I played Freddie,” adds Steve. After OLS, Anne went on to Good Counsel and Steve to Stepinac. Their paths crossed often, and Steve admits, “I had a little crush on her in high school but we never got together.”
Both went on to college — Anne to Lehigh and Steve to Providence — and built their lives in two different areas. Steve got married and raised two daughters out on Long Island, and Anne raised her son Jack in Connecticut. After his marriage ended, Steve says he “kind of gravitated back up to the White Plains area.” He had always stayed close to the guys from OLS and Stepinac like Phil Mogavero, Chris Hillebrecht, Timmy O’Toole, and Marty Sullivan. They all kept in touch through text chains, as well as dinners at Emma’s or Lombardo’s, golf games at Winged Foot, and St. Patrick’s Day traditions. Anne never lost touch with her OLS circle either, staying close with friends like Michelle Goliozo and Jane Boera. Anne also became good friends with Susan Steinthal through tennis at Orienta Beach Club. That friendship led to an unexpected reunion of sorts.
“One day back in 2015, Susan said to me, ‘You know, Stevie Steinthal just moved back to Westchester… would you be interested if we all got together?’” Anne’s response: “I haven’t seen him in like 25 years… but I remember him as a great guy, so yeah, I’m open to it.”
The day after their group outing, Susan texted Anne: “’Steve wants your number. Can I give it to him?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, sure.’” Steve called the next day. Anne says, “We knew it was either going to work quickly or not work quickly.”
When Steve told his mother he was dating Anne, her reaction was instant. “She said, ‘Oh my God. Anne Bensel, she’s so smart, so pretty…’ I said, “All right, Mom, you don’t have to sell me on her. I’m already a fan.”
A few years quickly passed and then Steve took the big step: “I asked Mr. Bensel for permission to marry Anne,” and started planning to pop the question. His idea was to propose after five o’clock Mass on Christmas Eve. But they had hosted their “Eve of the Eve” party on the 23rd, an open house for White Plains friends and neighbors. So on Christmas Eve itself, Anne was exhausted after cleaning up from the party and said, “Can we just go to Mass tomorrow?” Steve was thinking, “Oh no, I have this whole thing planned.”
But the next day, after the 10:30am Christmas Mass at OLS, Steve casually asked Anne and her son Jack to come over towards the altar. Jack knew what was coming — Steve had asked his permission earlier that morning. But at first Anne had no idea. Then it dawned on her, right before Steve got down on one knee. In the same church where they had spent so many of their childhood years, their new life together began.
They got married in June 2020 in a small backyard ceremony with just their kids, and “a big Zoom, so that our families from all over the place could attend,” says Anne.
Returning to White Plains and OLS has just felt natural. “We run into Sister Patricia and Mrs. Jordan, Sister Cecile and Sister Laura,” says Anne, and Steve adds that they also run into old OLS classmates like Liz Schulz and Colleen Casey. “At OLS, you can feel the love and the kindness,” Steve says. While Anne adds, “It really seems to be the glue that holds everybody in our community together.”