Peter Bilello has found true love when he met Grace Caruso.
They have two wonderful children and four grandchildren together.
Explaining to WTNH News how they first met, Peter, now 86, said his mother had been pestering him about getting married. She said that a ‘nice girl’ lived nearby and that was Grace.
Peter fell in love with her and they tied the knot after only 40 days. He was 35 at that time and Grace was 23.
“She was a very good wife, very good cook, very good mother,” Bilello said to ABC News. “Wherever my wife would go, I go.”
But in 2001, Grace was diagnosed with cancer and she underwent chemotherapy, radiation and an operation.
In 2009, they came up with a fun idea: each of them would sign a one dollar bill. “I told my wife, ‘I’m going to sign one on the front: Peter B. I want you to sign one, too, for Grace B.,’” he said. “I put those 2 dollars in my wallet.”
The bills were meant to be kept forever but he made a huge mistake when he accidentally spent the bill while shopping.
“I don’t know where I used the 2 dollars. I came home and told my wife… ‘Grace, I made a big mistake today… I’m never going to see [the dollars again].’”
Even though the bills were gone, their love kept going. After they had celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2014, Grace passed away.
“I was close with my wife,” Bilello expressed. “Anything she said, I would take care. Doctors, hospitals. I was with my wife all the time. And it made a lot of difference… for sick people to have support of the family.”
He added: “I was very supportive of my wife, that’s why she lasted 13 years.”
Then a few weeks ago, Peter took his granddaughter, Ashley, to Subway and that’s when a miracle happened.
After ordering their meals, the cashier then gave Peter his change, which included three single dollars. When Peter took at one of the bills, his heart dropped.
“I said, ‘Oh my god, Ashley, look.’ We started to cry,” Bilello expressed. “We were so happy to get the dollar back. I never thought I’d get that dollar back.”
Bilello continued: “I told my granddaughter, we’re going to go straight to the cemetery, and tell nonna [grandmother in Italian], my wife, that we got the dollar back. I showed the dollar to my wife and said, ‘Grace, look, I got your dollar back.
“It’s a miracle to get it back after 5 years. Who knows how many million people got that dollar in their hands.”
He credits his wife with making the miracle happen. “It happened to be the right time and right place. Nothing like this could happen. It’s got to be a miracle.”
The dollar is now in a safe place. “Nobody’s gonna get that dollar anymore,” he said. “No way.”
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