Catherine Smith and her companion, Elba Cedeno, fancied themselves Pepe Le Pew and Penelope from the Looney Tunes cartoon. Ms. Smith, a vice president at Marsh & McLennan, was the persistent skunk, pursuing a reluctant cat. Ms. Cedeno played hard to get for as long as she could. But when she fell, she fell hard.

They had known each other, in passing, for 20-odd years, both frequenting the same bar in Rockland County. A half-dozen years ago, when each of them was newly out of a relationship, they were formally introduced and delighted to have a shoulder to cry on. Friendship quickly turned to love.

"She conquered me," Ms. Cedeno said, breaking into a tearful chorus of "I didn't want to do it; I didn't want to do it."

Ms. Smith, 44, was a ray of sunshine, Ms. Cedeno said. She had an adorable smile and a sense of humor that turned crankiness to laughter. She drove a canary yellow Volkswagon and "she fit in that car so cute." She rooted for the Yankees, had an unexplained devotion to Dan Marino of the Miami Dolphins, traded baseball and football cards on eBay and loved to travel.

The couple was hoping for an early retirement and had recently built a beach house in Manahawkin, on the Jersey Shore, around the corner from Ms. Smith's mother. They were already talking about a trip to Italy three years hence, to celebrate Ms. Cedeno's 50th birthday. "We had so many goals," she said. "So many plans."