Kim and Tim Hussey have deep roots at Lake Hopatcong, with both of their families spanning generations on the water. Kim’s family summer home has stood in the River Styx section of the lake since the early 1900s, and Tim spent his summers on Halsey Island. Both grew up at the Lake Hopatcong Yacht Club, which is where they met. They have since married, and have three children: Thomas, 12, and twins Joshua and Camryn, 8. The Husseys tell our first “Lake Loving” how-we-met story, from the patio of the Lake Hopatcong Yacht Club, where it all began.
Okay, so how did you guys meet, or do you even remember meeting? KIM: Tim and I met… well, I can remember doing Juniors [a gathering of teenage members] here at the club, so we were probably about 13 years old when we had our first “hello, hi, how are you?” conversation. Did you interact much at all before that? TIM: Probably here at the club swimming lessons or sailing lessons. KIM: But not too much. Really, we were 13. And we’re now 40. TIM: And 41. KIM: And then… [to Tim] What happened then? TIM: We remained friends all through Juniors and through college… KIM: He would come visit me at my summer job down at a deli in Madison. He was a traveling salesman, and he’d show up, and he’d come in and chat with me. I would ask, "Why are you coming all the way here?" and he’d say “Oh, I have a couple of accounts nearby.” TIM: I did! I worked for Cutco. KIM: And then it was a New Members’ Dance… Tim and I graduated college in 1992, and there was a New Members’ Dance [at the yacht club] in the beginning of the summer, correct? TIM: Correct. KIM: And I called him up—I mean, both moms were saying, “why don’t you call Tim?” and “Why don’t you call Kim?” Actually, it was Kimmy and Timmy, which is gross. [Tim laughs.] And so I said, “come down to the New Members’ Ball—my parents want me to go.” So he came down to that. TIM: And then, uh—you were aggressive. [Laughs] KIM: That night? TIM: Oh, maybe not that night. KIM: No, it was that night. Because we came back to my house, just like we always do. Everybody went to bed, Tim and I were sitting on the dock. Or, wait, the porch. And I said, “I’ve got to do something, and I hope this doesn’t ruin our friendship.” And I went over and I sat on his lap and I gave him a kiss. And he goes, “I have been waiting for you to do that for so long.” TIM: Correct, absolutely. I was like, “I am so psyched, this is awesome.” KIM: That was that night, and then the next morning, he wakes up and needs a crew. So he asks my mother, “do you think Kim will want to sail?” And she said, “I don’t know, she’s still sleeping.” So he takes the boat, comes over, comes into my bedroom and goes “Kim! Kim!” And I’m wondering, “what is he doing here?” He asked me to sail, and I told him I hadn’t sailed in a hundred years, I hated it. TIM: That was 19 years ago. KIM: Yeah, 19 years ago. And I got up, I got over to the club, and I sailed. And we did alright, actually. TIM: Yeah, we had a good day. So when did you decide you were going to propose? TIM: I was in graduate school. And we hadn’t really had an argument, so I had to pick a fight, just to see if we could get through that. And I don’t know if you remember what we fought about, but— KIM: We were talking about, if we ever get married, he was saying you’re going to have to resign membership from the [Lake Hopatcong Yacht Club]. And I said, “I am not resigning from the club! I have been a member here forever—”
TIM: You were like, “I’m a Rosevear!” KIM: Yeah, well I am! So he said, “Look, I’m just saying… we would be members together.” 
TIM: So we went to dinner, at Il Mondo Vecchio in Madison. I had won a scholarship, so I had enough money to buy a ring. I actually had a ring made, my mother gave me two diamonds, one that my great uncle used as collateral—he was a bookie underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. KIM: The other was his grandfather’s. TIM: I ended up buying another diamond and having a ring made for Kim, it’s a unique ring because it has three different sized diamonds. KIM: I love that, I love it every time I look at it. TIM: So I picked a fight again at dinner, just to throw her off. And finally I told her to just close her eyes, and I got down on one knee and proposed. Her parents knew, and Burt [her father] offered me a ladder to elope. KIM: That was just one night, he would come out—I was sick in bed with the stomach flu or something. And he was over, and my mom asked him, “Are you ever going to propose to my daughter?” And he was like, “Well, actually…” So she woke up my dad. TIM: And he offered me the ladder. And Sandy [Kim’s mom] was saying, “No, no, we’re having a wedding!” KIM: That was 19— TIM: 1995—I had just gotten out of school. KIM: And we got married, KIM AND TIM: March 23, 1996. TIM: Bob’s birthday. KIM: My brother’s birthday. We got permission from my brother, because we wanted to go spring skiing. TIM: I went trap shooting the morning of the wedding. KIM: It snowed, we had basically a squall come through. TIM: Yep. And Elmer [Richards, a longtime lake sailor] drove us in his Bentley, which was totally cool. And where did you go on your honeymoon? KIM: Lake Tahoe. TIM: Spring skiing, Squaw Valley, Alpine Meadows. We had a house. KIM: And I was sick as a dog. TIM: Yes, you were. 
And ever since…? TIM: We sailed for how many years together? KIM: Oh, I don’t know. TIM: Maybe five? And then we decided we wanted to stay married. KIM: And then I started sailing in an E-Scow, and then lately I’ve been in the Star. But Tim has been sailing the Thistle the whole time. And what role does the lake play in your life? KIM: We always try to make some time to go out for a boat ride together, have a little date for an hour, try to regroup. One time we were out before we were married, I said, if we ever get married and have children, I would really love to name our child after your father and my father. And his father passed away when he was nine months old, named Thomas, and my father is Charles. And our firstborn is Thomas Charles. And that was it, that was what it was going to be. TIM: And now we have Thomas. KIM: I was praying it was going to be a boy, because I had nothing for a girl. And then we had our twins, Joshua and Camryn. And this place is so special to us. We come out on the lake, we come here to the yacht club, and we just love it. TIM: This is our family. KIM: We really love it. And I can’t believe I married Tim Hussey. You know what I mean? It worked out well. TIM: It worked out really well. Did you and your significant other meet on Lake Hopatcong? Let us know and we can tell your story. Email editor@lakehopatcongnews.com.
