Last month marked the 93rd birthday of Ray Giaquinto, who has worked for The Times for 24 years. Brimming with stories from his youth growing up in Connecticut, joining the Army, loving the Yankees and hating the Red Sox, most of all, Giaquinto’s proudest accomplishment is marrying the love of his life, Mary.

Giaquinto’s life always seemed to gravitate toward the newspaper. He landed his first job at the age of 15½ by answering an ad in the New Haven Register. John Consoli ran a watch and clock shop and hired students and young men returning from the war and offered Giaquinto his first job. As a junior at Hillhouse High School in New Haven, Conn., he dropped out of school in favor of a full-time position at Consoli’s and never looked back.

“I was the only one that went the highest,” Giaquinto said, whose brothers and sisters all quit school before their third year of high school.

At the age of 21, in the middle of the Korean War, Giaquinto was drafted into the Army. Expecting to be shipped to Korea, he was sent to Germany, spending time in cities like Kaiserslautern and Landstuhl. After 21 months and two days, Giaquinto was discharged and returned to his job at Consoli’s watch and clock shop.

‘Double what?’

Around this time, Giaquinto was introduced to his wife, Mary, who was friends with Giaquinto’s sister-in-law. At a party, Giaquinto and Mary struck up a conversation on the porch and Giaquinto asked her out for a date. His brother and sister-in-law joined Giaquinto and Mary on their first date which was a day in Brooklyn attending a New York Yankees vs. the Boston Red Sox baseball game. Little did Mary know, however, that it was a doubleheader.

“After the first game was over, [Mary] says, ‘Isn’t the game over?’ I says, ‘No, there’s another game,’ and she says, ‘You mean there’s another game? I’m not going to stay here!’”

Upset, Mary found a telephone in Yankee stadium and called her sister, chatting for the entirety of the second game. Giaquinto wasn’t especially happy about Mary abandoning him, so when the games were over, he walked well ahead of the group, kicking rocks on the way home.

When he got home, Giaquinto felt bad for his behavior toward Mary and decided to call on her. He apologized and Mary accepted and the two started dating.

Crickets

Early in their relationship, Giaquinto would stop by Mary’s home where she lived with her family. Unbeknownst to Giaquinto, Mary’s mother was deaf, and while Mary was getting ready upstairs, Giaquinto carried on a friendly conversation with her mother in the kitchen.

“I was talking to her and I didn’t get no answer. So, I started to think, ‘This woman doesn’t like me,’” Giaquinto said. “My wife’s sister happened to hear voices and she says, ‘Were you talking to my mother?’ I says, ‘Yea, but I’m not getting no answer.’ She says, ‘My sister didn’t tell you that she can’t hear? She’s deaf.’ I felt so bad, but I got along so good with her.”

Three months later, Giaquinto and Mary were engaged and another three months later, the two were married. In January, Giaquinto and Mary celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary.

Giaquinto spent nearly 20 years working in the electronics manufacturing industry company before retiring and considered moving south to Fort Myers, Fla. At the time, Giaquinto’s daughter was living in Arizona and convinced her parents to move out West.

“My daughter says, ‘If you’re planning to buy a house, buy it here,” Giaquinto said. “They were cheap at the time in Fountain Hills.”

On Nov. 11, 1997, Giaquinto and Mary moved into their new home in Fountain Hills and that same year, Giaquinto responded to an ad in The Times to work as a newspaper carrier. To this day, Giaquinto has been delivering to neighborhoods across town for 24 years and counting.

For being 93 years old, Giaquinto said he still feels young, and at the end of this month, his wife Mary will turn 92. Working part-time through his retirement, when asked if Giaquinto ever plans to fully retire, he responds, “Why?”

“I won’t give up this job unless I’m forced to because I love it,” Giaquinto said of his once-a-week gig. I can’t wait for Tuesday to come.”