^^
Don't know about Elise and F. Gary Gray's status.
Meanwhile, Harlem Moon Books creator Janet Hill, 42, gets married:
October 23, 2005
Vows
Janet Hill and Aaron Talbert
By JEREMY W. PETERS
JANET MARIETTA HILL is a graceful and elegant woman who created Harlem Moon, her imprint at Doubleday/Broadway Books in Manhattan. Friends say she is the consummate professional: always on the go and known to spend long hours editing her authors' books to perfection.
"It's not uncommon for me to get an e-mail from Janet at 1 a.m. and she's still at the office," said one author, Erin Gruwell.
In 2002, Ms. Hill entered a period that would make any single 39-year-old woman feel like she was racing against the clock.
"My grandmother died on April 28th," said Ms. Hill, now 42. "We buried her the day before Mother's Day. And during that time I went to four weddings."
Those weddings, which began with that of Ms. Hill's younger sister, Ellen Hill Zeringue, on Memorial Day weekend, continued through June, when three of Janet Hill's friends married. The series of events forced her to focus on relationships, theirs and hers. "I was 39 years old and I didn't know," Ms. Hill concluded.
Her older sister, the Rev. Georgia Hill Thompson, remembered, "She was so disappointed in the guys she had met that she told me, 'I ought to have an arranged marriage. What I should do is get my parents and close family friends together and have them select someone.' "
Then Aaron M. Talbert called.
Mr. Talbert, now 42, is the director of sales at VP Records, a reggae recording label in Jamaica, Queens. He entered the picture when Suesetta McCree, his great aunt, ran into Ms. Hill's mother, Valentine Hill, at a party.
"I said I had this nephew who is a reputable young man," recalled Ms. McCree, cracking a proud smile as she took credit for arranging the match.
Ms. Hill, who said she was leery of "blind date No. 999," hardly rushed to respond to the message left by Mr. Talbert, who was divorced. But she did play his message for her girlfriends to analyze.
After receiving her friends' approval, and after some prodding, Ms. Hill called Mr. Talbert. They agreed to meet after church for Sunday brunch in Manhattan.
"It was a great five-hour blind date," Ms. Hill said, noting that they had discovered that both lived as children in Detroit and that she and one of Mr. Talbert's cousins had crossed paths at a chapter of Jack and Jill of America, a black social organization.
Afterward Mr. Talbert called his mother, Terri Talbert of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. "I could hardly recognize his voice," Ms. Talbert recalled "He said, 'Ma, she's great.' "
That same evening, when Mr. Talbert attended a play with Lisa Cortes, a film producer and his former boss, and Leslie Sims, a mutual friend, more common pieces of Ms. Hill's and Mr. Talbert's lives came into view.
Ms. Sims said that she had roomed with Ms. Thompson at Harvard, and that Ms. Sims's younger sister, Lisa Sims, was Ms. Hill's best friend from childhood.
Ms. Cortes, whose credits include "The Woodsman" with Kevin Bacon, said, "It's all about six degrees of separation for black folks. Beautiful, smart, happening black folks."
Immediately it became evident to Ms. Hill's friends that Mr. Talbert's calm demeanor complemented the busybody publishing executive in her. One friend, Lynn Godfrey, remembered, "When I saw how he put her at ease, I said, 'He's a keeper.' "
Ms. Hill and Mr. Talbert say that the sense of familiarity they gained from their shared backgrounds pulled them together and set in motion a courtship that lasted a year and a half.
Their relationship evolved so seamlessly, they say, that there was never a single defining moment that inspired them to marry.
Nonetheless, Mr. Talbert tried to pinpoint the moment. "Probably on our first date I knew she was the type of woman who would be great to marry," he said.
His mother added, "The first time I saw them together, it was astonishing. I had the feeling this was it."
The couple was married on Oct. 9 at the Plymouth United Church of Christ in Detroit. The bride glided down the aisle in a strapless white gown by Mika Inatome, a New York designer. The words "love extravagantly," a favorite phrase of the bride's that was taken from a modern translation of First Corinthians, had been embroidered on it.
When it was time for the couple to exchange vows, a simple "I do" wouldn't do for Ms. Hill.
Ms. Thompson, who is the associate pastor of the church and who led the ceremony, asked her sister if she would take Mr. Talbert's hand in marriage. The bride proclaimed, "I absolutely will."
NY Times wedding article
Hybrid Mode
