Former Congressman William O. Lipinski, 87, was married earlier this year to Bonnie Whelehan during a small Catholic ceremony that included friends and family.
The Lipinski-Whelehan wedding ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 11, took place at St. John of the Cross Church, 51st and Wolf Road in Western Springs, and was followed by a reception at Devanti Enoteca Italian Restaurant.
The newlyweds met as children in 1950 while attending the Blessed Sacrament Grammar school, 22nd and Central Park Avenue in Chicago. They briefly dated in the summer of 1956 after they graduated from high school, but the relationship never continued.
“I met her in grammar school and always liked her. I wanted to be her friend but never had the courage to go up to her back then,” Lipinski recalled.
“We finally did get together in 1956 after we graduated from high school. She is six months younger than I am. We had two dates and a third date scheduled but it didn’t happen. I called her and she said she couldn’t go. That was the last time we spoke. I was so immature at the time anyway.”
Lipinski said he was dining with friends including former Speaker Michael J. Madigan, former state Representative John O’Connell and newspaper columnist Ray Hanania at JC’s Ristorante in McCook on October 10, 2023, when Ms. Whelehan, who was also dining with friends at a nearby table, came up to him and reintroduced herself.
“I had not seen or heard from her in 67 years when we ran into each other by accident at JC’s Pub. I was with friends, and she was with her friends.”
Bonnie’s friends had seen Lipinski sitting a few tables away with friends and pointed him out, encouraging Bonnie to go up to him and say hello.
“She came up to me and introduced herself and I was surprised. We hadn’t seen each other in so many years. I had so many great memories come back to me about our friendship,” Lipinski recalled, noting he later learned she had lived only two blocks from him in Chicago for more than 20 years before she moved to Arizona.
“I always really liked her. I told my two children and my grand kids that I planned to pursue a relationship with her. I didn’t know how that would work because she told me she was just visiting from Arizona, where she lived, and was flying home the next day.”
But Bill and Bonnie exchanged telephone numbers and the two maintained a telephone relationship for several months before reconnecting on a “first date.” Bill learned Whelehan had never married.
Bill told Bonnie that his wife, Rose Marie, who he had been married to for 59 years, had passed away in July 2021 after a long illness and that he was living alone.
“It was divine intervention that brought us together at our age. It was friendship that never died,” said Lipinski who served eight years in the Chicago City Council (1975-1983) and then 22 years in the U.S. Congress (1983-2005).
The two live together in the western suburbs with Bonnie’s dog Bella.