SKINNERS FALL, NY — I had the pleasure of interviewing Gabriel and Floarea Vladu at the River Reporter office recently. My assignment was to cover their upcoming 62nd wedding anniversary.

To my surprise, the story went in a completely different direction. Another anniversary means as much or more to the couple and their family than their wedding anniversary.

Gabriel and Floarea were married in Bucharest, Romania, on June 24, 1962. Gabriel was a skilled fine woodworker and Floarea did factory work, often under oppressive conditions and for bosses who came to work drunk. Their bosses were quick to fire any worker who didn’t work double or triple shifts without notice.

Gabriel and Floarea are Seventh-Day Adventists and worship on Saturdays. Since the factory was based on a six-day schedule, their bosses fired them several times because of their religious practices.

‘Must be for Russia’

Floarea’s father was a farmer with seven children. At harvest time, the wheat would fill one of their rooms, and the family would process it by hand. 

Every year they’d get a visitor from the Communist Party. Romania was a satellite of the U.S.S.R. for more than 40 years after World War II.

“The gentleman came to see how much we have,” Floarea said. “‘Must be for Russia.’ My father said, ‘Everything?,’ and the Russian said, ‘Yes, everything.’”

Her father held back tears. If the Russian saw him weep, he’d send him to jail. 

The following year, her father put in an additional acre of wheat. When the Russian came again, her father thought, there’d be some grain left for the family.

But no. Once again, the Russian requisitioned all of it.

Floarea recalled her sister asking her how she’d gotten up the courage “to fill it up, the paper, the immigration paper. Because I was a witness to my father, what happened with him, how much suffering. And my father said sometimes, ‘The American people are coming to save us. I hope they are coming. They know what happened here.’ I heard more, many times, my father saying like this. And they [the Communist Party] took it always, everything, the grain, the most grain.”

The Communist regime governing Romania lasted from 1947 to 1989. In 1989, the Vladus submitted their paperwork so they could move to the United States.

Gabriel said the Romanian Constitution allowed citizens to receive a passport to emigrate to the United States. Not many Romanians knew about this provision, but Gabriel did. He went to the immigration office but was rebuffed.

“‘Even if you come every day, 10 years here, we don’t let you to go!’” Gabriel recalled being told.

The couple was not intimidated.

Floarea went to the immigration office every week, often multiple times a week, to check on the family’s paperwork. She pleaded her case: She was fired because of her religious beliefs, and there was no food for the couple’s three boys.

After five years, they got the news they’d longed for.

Skinners Falls: Love at first sight

In 1994, the family sold all of their belongings and began their journey. They made their way first to a refugee camp in Rome, Italy. A few weeks later, on May 24, 1994, the Vladu family finally set foot in America.

As they flew into Kennedy Airport, the family, like so many others before them, saw the Statue of Liberty coming into view as a beacon of hope that bode well for life in their new country. They landed on Thursday, got their cards from the Social Security office on Friday, and started working on Saturday.

After working in New York City for two years, the couple purchased their property at Skinners Falls, the former Black Horse Inn property on the New York side of the historic 1902 bridge. Gabriel had accompanied a friend who was looking for property, and they looked at the Skinners Falls piece. His friend wasn’t interested, but Floarea fell in love with the place. And the rest, so they say, is history.

Before he retired, Gabriel spent his weekends at Skinners Falls with the family and returned to work in New York City during the week. The couple is now enjoying life in the Upper Delaware full-time.

The Vladus have three sons who came to the Upper Delaware to be with their parents on their anniversary. Christian is a medical doctor. George attended the same college as Anthony and obtained a degree in business. Anthony is an Army war veteran with eight years of service, including a tour in Kuwait, and also has a Ph.D. in education. 

Even as Gabriel and Floarea look back on 62 years of happiness together, they also remember the unwanted knock on the door, the brutal choice between their church and their job. So, they said, there is another, maybe even greater, cause for celebration these days: 30 years of freedom.

Editor's note: This article has been updated to correct an editing error in the original: It has been 30 years of freedom for the  Vladus, not 40.