Jeanne Callahan’s life was perfect — or was it? Attend the library’s next Friday Night Dialogues to hear about her book, “Till Heist Do Us Part.”
It details her unraveling and recovery after discovering her husband was a bank robber.
Callahan appeared to have it all: a loving husband who worked on Wall Street, two beautiful, healthy sons, and a dream home in the affluent Long Island community where she grew up, surrounded by friends and family.
But the day after Thanksgiving in 2003, with one phone call, the life she knew came crashing down around her.
“Your husband,” the caller said, “is in custody for a series of bank robberies all over Nassau County.”
She would soon discover that her husband, Stephen Trantel, was living a lie. He was no longer the Wall Street futures exchange trader his family and friends thought him to be. Instead of heading to work each morning, as he claimed, Trantel went to the library to research “master thief” techniques that he used to rob 10 banks of $60,000 between March and November 2003.
In “Till Heist Do Us Part,” written with Michael Harvey, Callahan chronicles the human toll of this ripped-from-the-headlines true story. Consumed by anger and humiliation and faced with mounting debt and piles of unpaid bills, she entered what she describes as the “darkest time” in her life.
But Callahan’s story is not a tragedy. Instead, it’s one of hope and redemption, faith, love, and the power of forgiveness. By sharing it, she wants to provide hope and guidance to others who may feel lost.
Join the library for Friday Night Dialogues on Friday, April 14, at 7 PM in the lower-level Community Room. No registration is necessary. There is no charge, but the library appreciates donations.
Next up: Wood Turnings with Fred Buonocore, Friday, April 21 at 7 PM
Donald Regan is a trustee of the Shelter Island Public Library.
