Remember When… An Old-Fashioned Love Story (2025)

Remember When… An Old Fashioned Love Story was inspired by the real lives of CaZo Artistic Director Bridgette Borzillo’s grandparents, William and Paula Schmidt. She wanted to bring their love story to life because it’s one you don’t hear very often anymore. William met Paula on a train that running between Iowa and Texas in 1945. At the time, Paula was attending school for cosmetology and William was on his way home from his service in the Air force. Paula was so smitten by him, she gave him her address and phone number. Over the next year, they only saw each other three times, cementing their love through phone calls and letters. When they wed on January 3rd, 1946, it was only the fourth time they had seen each other in person since that fateful train ride. After the ceremony, the blissful couple took all of their attendees to a movie. Shortly thereafter, the couple had three beautiful daughters: the twins, Geraldine and Teresa, and Linda.

William was an incredible family man; he valued the time he spent with his family and because he worked for the airlines, often took them on weekend getaways. In April of 1973, that all came to an end. William started to have chest pains at work and decided to lie down and rest at his desk. It wasn’t long before his heart exploded, ending any chance of reviving him. It was a complete shock to everyone, including Paula, their daughters, his coworkers and friends, as William was in very good health at the time.

After his death, Paula had a dream. The entire family was having a picnic at a beautiful park, and as they were leaving, William stayed behind. “Aren’t you coming with us?” Paula asked, to which he replied, “No, I like it here. I’m going to stay. But you need to go back. You are not done yet.” It was this dream that gave Paula the strength to live on without her beloved William (in the physical sense) — she now knew with all of her heart that William would always be with her spiritually and that she would never love anyone else.

Paula went on to have nine grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. 40 years after William passed away, I believe William came back for Paula as she once again boarded the train to join him in their magnetic true love.