AUGUST 22 • 2024 | 29
J
N

W

hen a loved one passes 
away, we might feel that 
their soul is helping to 
pull strings for us from up in heaven. 
That’s what Andrea Stierna of Oak 
Park believes helped her find her 
bashert.
Andrea grew up in Oak Park. Two 
years after her beloved father, Charles 
Gorevitz, passed away on April 7, 
2001, Andrea went to watch a movie, 
Runs in the Family, with her mother 
and brother. 
“It was a great movie; we loved it,” 
Andrea says now. On the way home, 
they stopped at a gas station where 
they bumped into Andrea’s friend 
Natalina Garavaglia, who happened 
to mention that some of their mutual 
friends were meeting in a bar in 
Berkley. 
“I haven’t seen you in a while,” 
Andrea told Natalina. “I’ll take my 
mom and brother home and then I’ll 
come join you.”
As Andrea caught up with her 
friend at the bar, she shared, “I’m OK 
now. I’m done with my mourning. I 
really need to get happy and feel like 
myself again.”
Now, Andrea reflects, “I believe I 

put something out into the universe 
because at that moment, I turned, and 
said, ‘Well, who’s that guy over there? 
I’ve never seen him before!’”
Natalina answered, “He’s come here 
a few times.” But after another quick 
peek, the two friends just resumed 
their conversation.
Later that night, they attended 
an impromptu bonfire in Natalina’s 
backyard and in walked another 
mutual friend, as well as the cute 
guy from the bar, who turned out to 
be Alex Stierna, who’d grown up in 
Southfield and was a very recently 
divorced dad of two young kids. 
Andrea and Alex spent the whole 
night talking in the backyard and 
ended up watching the sun come up.
“
And I’ve been with him ever since,” 
Andrea laughs. 
She went home and told her mom, 
Roberta Gorevitz, all about Alex. “I 
bet this is the guy I’m going to marry,” 
Andrea declared. 
It took one meeting for her mom 
to agree. “He’s a forever kind of guy,” 
she said. 
Later, when going through an old 
address book of Andrea’s dad, they 
discovered that it had listed Alex’s 

brother and sister-in-law, Matt and 
Amy Stierna. How did they know 
each other? Matt said he’d only met 
Andrea’s dad briefly!
“I just felt like God and my dad 
brought us together,” Andrea said. 
“That night at the bar, I put it all out 
in the universe, literally saying out 
loud that I was OK, that I was done 
mourning. I was so ready … and 
then, slowly but surely, everything fell 
into place.”
The couple married on Aug. 

7, 2005, two days after her dad’s 
birthday. 
“Getting married so close to my 
dad’s birthday made me feel like he 
was included in our special day,” 
Andrea explained. 
The ceremony took place at the 
Southfield Burgh Historical Park 
under a beautiful gazebo in the 
blazing August heat. 
Alex’s dad, Paul Stierna, was Alex’s 
best man and wheeled Alex’s mom, 
Peggy, down the aisle in a wheelchair. 
Sadly, Peggy passed away one month 
after the wedding. 
On April 6, 2023, Andrea’s mom 
also passed away. (Interestingly, even 
though Andrea’s parents divorced, 
they remained lifelong good friends 
and even share a Hebrew yahrtzeit — 
both on 15 Nissan.) 
These days, the Stierna family still 
live in Oak Park and are the proud 
parents of Aaron (AJ), 29, Zachary, 
23, and Ethan, 16. They attend Temple 
Emanu-El in Oak Park; Andrea works 
as a nanny and Alex works as a CNC 
programmer machinist. 
“We carry Alex’s mom with us 
just like we carry my mom and dad,” 
Andrea said. “I believe our entire 
meeting and life today is very spiritual 
… I believe that our loved ones are 
never really gone from our lives and 
sometimes they can do even more for 
us on their spiritual plane.” 

This column will appear biweekly. If you’d 

like to share your ‘meet-cute’ story, email 

burstynwithjoy@hotmail.com.

A Heaven-Sent Match

Andrea Stierna, Alex Stierna, Lauren Goldstein, Ethan Stierna, A.J. Stierna and 
Roberta Gorevitz

ROCHEL BURSTYN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

HOW WE MET

The Stiernas’ 
wedding day, 
Aug. 7, 2005.

Alex with his parents, 
Paul and Peggy Stierna, 
on his wedding day.

