AUGUST 3 • 2023 | 21

A

s disconcerting as 
it may feel to be set 
up with someone 
who’s totally wrong for you, 
worse yet is to be written off 
as incompatible before you’ve 
even gone out. If Maureen 
Greenwald had listened to her 
friend instead of her heart, she 
wouldn’t have gotten together 
with Lenny Schiffman, who’s 
been her husband for almost 
50 years.
In 1961, Maureen Greenwald 
was 11 years old and taking 
classes at the Julie Adler 
School of Dance on Wyoming 
in Detroit. A fellow dancing 
student invited her over and 
suggested they sit on the front 
porch to wait for a particular 
good-looking boy to pass by. 
Indeed, Lenny Schiffman, 
then 13, walked by and made 
the girls day when he stopped 
to chat with them. Maureen 
learned that he would be going 

to Mumford High School; 
she was planning to attend 
Ferndale High School. 
Hoping for more of Lenny, 
Maureen went to her new 
friend’s house again the 
following week, and had 
another good schmooze with 
him, but after he left, things 
quickly went downhill.
“My friend and I had a 
disagreement; that was the 
last time I went to her house,” 
Maureen said.
Still, even though they’d 
only met each other fleetingly, 
Lenny and Maureen stuck out 
in each other’s memories. Any 
time Maureen met someone 
from Mumford she asked if 
they knew Lenny; any time 
Lenny met someone from 
Ferndale, he asked if they knew 
her. 
Time marched on and they 
lost track of each other. After 
high school, Lenny earned 

a B.A. in special education 
and a master’s in vocational 
rehabilitation, and Maureen 
earned a B.A. in education 
from Wayne State.
In January 1975, Maureen’s 
friend Randee moved in with 
her. It turned out Randee’s 
fiance’s best friend was Lenny 
Schiffman. 
“Oh, my gosh, I knew 
him when I was 11! 
What’s he like now?” 
Maureen, then age 25, 
asked Randee. “She 
answered, “Oh, he’s not 
your type at all.”
Not easily deflated, 
Maureen insisted, “But 
what’s he like?”
“Well, he has long 
hair —”
“I like guys with 
long hair!” Maureen 
said enthusiastically. 
“He has a moustache —”
“That’s OK with me!”
“He plays guitar —”
“So do I!”
“
And he always carries a tape 
deck with him wherever he 
goes …”
Maureen was interested. “He 
sounds just like my type! Give 
me his phone number!”
Maureen called Lenny the 
very next day; he invited her 
over and they caught up. 
“We quickly realized 
we didn’t want to be with 
anyone else,” Maureen 
said. 
Five months later, 
Maureen happened to 
overhear Lenny talking 
to a friend. 
“Oh, you’re getting 
married soon? That’s 
nice,” Lenny said into the 
phone. “So are Maureen 
and I.”

Just one thing: He hadn’t 
asked her! 
Laughing, Maureen poked 
her head in the room to say, 
“Um, what did you just say?”
“We’re getting married.”
“When?” Maureen asked.
“I guess in a couple of 
months.”
Both sets of parents were 
thrilled. In July 1975, the 
couple married at Adat 
Shalom, the same place Lenny 
had his bar mitzvah 14 years 
earlier. In 1986, they welcomed 
son Corey and, 13 years later, 
they celebrated his bar mitzvah 
at Adat Shalom, too!
Lenny was a special ed 
teacher and was awarded 
Teacher of the Year for the 
State of Michigan in 2005. 
Maureen taught at Temple 
Emanu-El in Oak Park and 
then worked as a children’s 
entertainer for 30 years. Now 
both are retired; Maureen still 
enjoys her puppets and music 
with their six grandsons. 
As much as things have 
changed, some things never 
do: Lenny still has hair halfway 
down his back and hasn’t cut 
it in more than 20 years. He 
also still plays guitar (as well as 
other instruments), but there’s 
definitely no need to carry 
around a tape deck anymore. 

This column will appear biweekly. If 

you’d like to share your ‘meet-cute’ 

story, email burstynwithjoy@hotmail.com.

OUR COMMUNITY

 ‘Totally 
 My Type’

ROCHEL BURSTYN 
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

HOW WE MET

LEFT, FROM TOP: Lenny and 
Maureen Schiffman. Lenny and 
Maureen’s wedding photo.

Lenny, 
Maureen 
and son, 
Corey

