SALLY B. SHARP AND STEPHANI R. FRIED CELEBRATE UNION AT THE VAN WICKLE HOUSE
New York Times
February 27, 2007

SOMERSET, NJ- Sally B. Sharp and Stephani R. Fried of Milltown, N.J., were joined in a civil union last evening at the Van Wickle House, a historic home and events space operated by the Meadows Foundation in Somerset, N.J. Rabbi Ruth E. Smith officiated.

Ms. Sharp (above, left) is 55. She is a special education teacher at Middlesex High School in Middlesex, N.J. She graduated from San Jose State University and received a master’s in teaching from the College of New Jersey in Ewing.

She is a daughter of Bertha M. Barber of Lodi, Calif., and the late Thomas B. Sharp, also of Lodi, and a stepdaughter of Elsa Sharp and of the late Robert Barber. Ms. Sharp’s mother, who is retired, raised cattle and grew vegetables on a farm she owned in Galt, Calif. The bride’s father and stepmother, also farmers, grew grapes and cherries in Lodi.

Ms. Fried, 50, is a family therapist in North Brunswick, N.J. She graduated from Rutgers and received a master’s in clinical psychology from the New School for Social Research.

She is a daughter of the late Blossom Fried and Laurence Fried, who lived in Oakhurst, N.J. Her father was the chief fiscal and personnel officer at the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety in Trenton. Her mother was the owner of Blossom Antiques in Lakewood, N.J.

Ms. Sharp and Ms. Fried, who have been together for 27 years, met at a 1980 Valentine’s Day party in New Brunswick, N.J.

“I asked a friend to introduce us.” Ms. Fried said. “We danced and spoke the whole night long.”

It was geographical serendipity, said Ms. Sharp, who was raised in California and moved to New Jersey after a three-year tour as a Peace Corps volunteer in Padada, the Philippines. “I had to come around the world to find my soul mate.