Rocket Romances

It’s as natural as the birds and the bees, the flowers and the trees, the tickle and the sneeze — people meet and fall in love at UT. Some months back, we issued a call for stories of romances with a UT setting, and were floored with the rush of responses. Charming, funny and romantic in turn, these are the kinds of love stories that need no Hollywood script. Thanks to everyone who shared their memories and photos!

Dorky but nice We met in the fall of 2002; Tom was a freshman and I was a sophomore. He introduced himself, asked a bunch of questions and I couldn’t help but think, “Man, what a nice guy – but what a dork!’ So we stayed friends throughout the years. We were both very involved with campus activities and I would always run into him. We were not at all involved in the same activities, so everyone would always say, “How do you know Tom?”

In the spring 2005, Tom ran for Student Government president. I saw him around more and more, and noticed his ambition, intelligence and fortitude were really impressive. That spring, someone convinced me to come to a birthday party at Dorr St. Café, and I showed up with gym shoes and a pony tail. Turns out it was Tom’s birthday. He said to me, “Heather, I always thought you were really pretty.” I still thought, “Wow, still a dork.”

The fall of 2005 was my 5th year; I had a junior level business class and was sure I would not know anyone in it. Of course, Tom was in my class! We talked, and then happened to see each other at Jake’s a couple of nights later. We got to chatting, and here we are today — married and enjoying our first child.

Heather (Ritz) (Eng ’05) and Tom Crawford (Eng ’06)
Lawrenceville, Georgia

Romance in the stacks My wife (Kirsten Gee) and I (Kyle Gee) met at The University of Toledo in 2005 during grad school; I in law and my wife in medicine. We were married in June 2007. I earned my JD in May 2008 and the following month, my wife was awarded her MD. Since my degree had been awarded prior to her commencement ceremony, I had the privilege of “hooding” in her college’s ceremony. A week after her graduation, she gave birth to our first daughter, Brooklyn. We welcomed our second daughter, Mazie, in January 2011. As busy graduate students, we spent a lot of time on campus. I, the former law student, spent countless hours in the Mulford Library and other parts of the UT Health Science Campus just so I could see Kirsten more. She in turn would visit me often in the law library. We enjoyed seven combined years at UT and look forward to contributing to UT’s future success.

Kirsten (MED ’08) and Kyle B. Gee (Law ’08)
Strongsville, Ohio

It’s been only 47 years?

My wife Beverly (Whitemore) and I met at University of Toledo. Sometime during the 1961-1962 school year, I began to notice Beve in the library studying. She was always impeccably dressed and I particularly remember two matching skirt and sweater combinations: one yellow and the other magenta.

Later I discovered she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega. Since I had dated a few AXO’s, I began asking to find out who she was. I was told that I should come to the Sorority Open House and I could be introduced. Well, I did and we began meeting in the hall between classes and studying together in the library.

When the finals were approaching in the second semester, I got tired of studying and called her from my home in Point Place. I told her that I was studied out and, even though I never asked a girl out for the first date to go to the drive-in, would she be interested? Her answer — even though she never went to the drive-in on a first date – was yes! That was May 26, 1962 and we went to the Jesse James on Reynolds Rd.
We became engaged in Ottawa Park and decided that we would get married in June 1964. However, we soon discovered that we did not want to wait that long. So we moved the date up to December 21, 1963. We believe it was God’s urging because, in June 1964 when I got my military assignment, I was to report for active duty in Fort Bliss, Texas, on June 13, several days before our original wedding date!

Looking back today after 47 years of marriage and two children, Douglas and Jennifer, and eight wonderful grandchildren later, we would not do anything different. Both of us are retired, but find ways to spend time together and away from each other. It is a great balance and works for us.

Thanks, TU (it wasn’t yet UT, but warmly referred to as “Bancroft High,” especially by us “Town-ees”) for providing the atmosphere for us to meet and blossom.

Fred G. (Eng ’64) and Beverly D. (Whitmore) (Ed ’63) Schaefer
Maumee, Ohio

Live from LA

We heard you were looking for UT campus romance stories. How about us? Debra Eversole (from Fremont, Ohio) was in nursing, I, Nick (from Philly), was in law. We met while living in the dorms, I in Dowd and Deb in McKinnon. We married in Elmore, Ohio, in December 1977 and have lived in Los Angeles since 1979. We have two kids: Matt (22) and Nicole (19). We are still happily married, and Debbie is a case manager with 30-plus years at Cedars Sinai Hospital. Nick is an entertainment lawyer/movie biz executive and more recently, a law professor, teaching the entertainment law course at the UT Law College over spring break last year.

The pic is of us at the 2011 Oscars. As a undergrad nursing student, Debbie was a member of the dancing Rockettes. She looks just as good in her skimpy little dancing costume today as she did when she danced as a freshman in 1974 at the basketball games.

Nick (Law ’77) and Debra (Eversole) LaTerza (A/S ’78)
Calabasas, California

Meant to be

Steve and I met at UT in 1983. I was at Freshman Camp and he was dating my camp counselor. He was a cutie, but I didn’t think anything of it. Well, he worked in the Carlson library, where I spent a lot of time, and I thought he was cute again!

Steve was a Sig Ep and wore that cool purple-and-red jacket! I was in Alpha Chi Omega, and a sorority sister set us up for a blind date to an Alpha Chi hayride. We had such a blast together, that was in 1984. Our first kiss was on the 3rd floor steps in McKinnon Hall where I lived. We had many picnics on the lawn by U Hall, went to many sorority and fraternity dances and many UT football games. One game we all got up on the wall and sang the fight song and spelled TOLEDO! We had pizza at Fat Daryl’s, or had lunch in the Greek side of the cafeteria talking to friends. We even spray-painted our names on the Bancroft bridge together.

Steve went to Bowling Green for grad school and we broke up. Three years later, he moved to Washington, D.C. My brother lived there, too, and I went to visit one summer. Steve and I had lunch together and we both realized we were meant to be and were married two years later in 1993.

Today, we live in St. Louis, have two kids and are still having fun together. Steve’s parents still live in Toledo, so we go back several times a year. We have shown our kids all our old hangouts at college. Hope you enjoyed our story!

Meg (Doman) (A/S ’88) and Steve Clarke (A/S ’86)
Webster Groves, Missouri

Wedding chimes in the Tower

My wife Penny and I were the first couple to my knowledge ever married on Centennial Mall while I was a student at UT — May 22, 1981. If anyone beat us to it, they did it secretly, as the Mall hadn’t been in place all that long.

We wanted a small outdoor wedding and after considering several locations, decided that a small hill on Centennial Mall near the Edison Fountain would be a great spot. As I was editor of The Collegian, I had a relationship with University President Driscoll and asked him if it would be OK. He said yes. So we asked the campus minister to officiate and had a small gathering of family and friends witness the wedding. It was a beautiful day. As added touches, a student walking by played us a song on the guitar he happened to be carrying and the bell tower chimed after the ceremony.

Penny (Dinges) and Keith Price (UTCTC ’82)
Canton, Ohio

The right environment for romance

My husband, Josh, and I met right before college, went to UT together, got engaged while at UT, and got married during my last semester of grad school. We sometimes think back on how fun and carefree things were before we had the house, kids, real jobs, etc., but each year brings new memories, challenges and depth. We are blessed.

Some memories: Josh worked at UT recycling and the print shop. He saved up paper punches from the binding machine, so when the millennial new year came around, he had this huge bag of confetti. We were with my family that year, and everyone was throwing fistfuls of confetti. My parents were finding confetti for years afterwards in the couch cushions and curtain creases.

We were both officers for SEBS (Society for Environmental and Biological Sciences), planning Earth Week on campus, cleaning up tires and garbage at the Manhattan Marsh, etc. We also put together the first environmental sciences career fair on campus. Environmental sciences was a new major/program at that time, so there were no established employers. Josh, his friends and others in SEBS needed internships and jobs, so we brought employers to campus and did a decent-size career fair in the South Lounge.

We got married in August of 2002 when I was half way through my MBA. I had to take a textbook on the honeymoon to read in the car because one of my prof’s was docking my grade for missing class because of the honeymoon. (Grad school was actually a late decision for me, and the wedding was already scheduled.) A few months after the wedding when I was studying for final exams, we found out I was pregnant. Thank goodness it was my last semester of grad school!

Thank you for the trip down memory lane!

Deirdre (Florkowski) (Bus ’01, MBA ’02) and Josh Jones (Bus ’01)
Perrysburg, Ohio

Up on the roof

Like many UT alumni, my husband, Tom (Eng 2003), and I met through our involvement with student organizations. So when it came time to propose, Tom focused on how much UT played a role in our relationship. With the help of University staff and police, he was granted access to the roof of University Hall, and turned one of the turrets into the most romantic spot on campus, complete with candles, music, and an gorgeous view of the tower. Tom had enlisted my sister, Gillian Wilke (A/S ’04), to help buy the supplies, and my best friend, Michelle Kaminski Poeppelmeier (Ed ’03, MEd ’05), to make up an elaborate ruse to get me up to the roof. As Michelle led me through U Hall, I should have been suspicious, but for some reason I just went along with everything I was being told. The next thing I knew, I was on the roof, Michelle had disappeared, and Tom was on one knee. After I got over the surprise, Michelle reappeared and took pictures to commemorate the occasion. Campus involvement in our wedding planning didn’t end with our engagement, as we took our engagement photos on campus, 10 of the 12 members of our wedding party are also alumni, and we held our reception in the Student Union ballroom.

Meredith (Wilke) (A/S ’02, Ed ’05) and Tom Blaine (Eng ’03)
Sylvania, Ohio

Dropping (off) the ball

We met in the fall of 2006 at the Rec Center. I was in working in town and still coming to the Rec as an alumnus to stay in shape and feel young. She was an instructor persuading me to come to one of her classes. I thought she was attractive and that a little help on my abs wouldn’t be a bad thing, but I also knew she just wanted attendance and had no intentions of anything more.

Little did she or I know what would happen next. A few weeks passed and nothing more than a “Hi” or “Good class” was exchanged between us. Then one day we were unsuspectingly doing exercises on one of those big green ab balls and I fell off — not delicately, either. I mean fell off with a big THUD. I tried to play it off, but I knew everyone saw me, including the instructor. After class we had a few awkward laughs and I left.

Unfortunately that next week I left on business and wouldn’t have a chance to redeem myself for a while. A few weeks later while I was at the Rec minding my own business, the instructor came up and asked if the ball incident was why I had missed a couple weeks of class. We got to talking and it seemed she looked forward to seeing me in class. The next class, I somehow worked up the courage and asked if she would like to go to dinner some time. She agreed. Our first date was October 5, 2006, with dinner at Rosie’s and a few drinks at Jakes. We were engaged five months later and married on June 7, 2008.

Matthew (Eng ’05) and Natalie (A/S ’08) Ware
Clinton, Ohio

The legal approach

We met our first week as first-year law students at the law library circulation desk in 1975. I (was a student worker behind the circulation desk. Phil, quite disheveled from playing touch football outside with some other male law students, came up to the circulation desk, looking to chit-chat.

When I asked him what him what he had been doing, Phil explained about the touch football game. To which I replied, a bit sarcastically, “Oh, proving your manhood, are you?” Not the least bit intimidated, Phil was instantly smitten and immediately sought employment as a law library student worker. So not only were we working together, we also shared many classes together.

Friendship blossomed into romance and we married in downtown Toledo by Judge Resznick, who later became a justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, in August 1978, a few weeks after taking the bar exam. Although I wasn’t looking for romance when I went to law school, it happened in the most mundane and possibly unromantic venues.

Oh, and we are still married. And our daughter graduated from law school this June, at the University of Chicago.

Carol A. Fichtelman (Law ’78) and Philip C. Berwick (Law ’78)
Saint Louis, Missouri

Injured runner falls in love with lifeguard

My husband and I met while at The University of Toledo. I was a doctoral student and also a competitive runner, having placed in the Toledo Blade 10K as well as being invited to participate in the Amaco Golden Mile twice. I put in about 45-50 miles of running out in the Brookside area west of campus and the Toledo Metroparks each week.

Following a disappointing performance at my second Amaco Golden Mile competition, I unwisely increased my mileage with a resulting stress fracture of my right tibia. After consultation with Dr. Brolinson (sports medicine physician who worked with many of us on various departmental research projects), I headed to the pool to maintain my fitness while my tibia healed.

Never a very good swimmer, I took advantage of another aquatic exercise at the Rec Center: deep water running. I was often the first one in the water, wearing my floatation vest. Even with the vest, a lifeguard was required to be on deck while I exercised. One of the lifeguards was very nice and friendly, and we struck up many conversations before or after my workouts. I was attracted to him but didn’t know if he was seeing anyone. Thankfully, a fellow graduate student in my department was a graduate assistant at the Rec Center, so she became my spy. After finding he was unattached, I plotted how I might bring our causal friendship to a new level.

One weekend I had my chance. I won tickets from a radio station to Murphy’s Place in downtown Toledo. I proceeded to the Rec Center, planning to invite my lifeguard friend to join me. Disappointed, I completed my workout with no sight of this lifeguard — not his shift! I showered and was leaving when I looked over the natatorium only to see that he was now on duty. Wanting to make the invitation seem casual, I went back to the locker room, put on my swimsuit, and did another water workout so he wouldn’t suspect I was back just to talk with him! He did accept my invitation; we had a marvelous time, and started to run together at the Metroparks (once I was cleared from my stress fracture) and to date.

Within a year we were engaged and then married in March 1994. Although I was devastated by my stress fracture at the time, that injury actually was a blessing as it brought Tobin Bushman into my life. This March we will have been married for 17 years and he is my absolute best friend…and still tries to help me become a real swimmer!

Barbara (Kooiker) (PhD ’95) and Tobin Bushman (Ed ’93, MEd ’95)
Strafford, Missouri

Signing up for love at open registration

I was captivated by Janet immediately when we were introduced by her sister, Diana, at the open registration for incoming freshman in the fall of 1969. Prospective freshmen gathered in the Field House for this intimidating process. Although Diana and I worked together at nearby Lane’s Drug Store in Westgate, I did not know about her younger sister, Janet.

During the fall quarter, Janet’s and my paths occasionally crossed during visits to the Student Union. Soon, we planned to meet at the Student Union for movie night or at the Glass Bowl for football games. By Christmas 1969, we began dating. Since we both worked part-time, balancing school and work consumed most of our time, leaving little time for dates. Study date night at Gillham Library or a University Hall classroom became a routine for us.

We both graduated during December 1973 and continued dating. We were very fortunate to find employment in the Toledo area.

On June 17, 2011, we celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary.

Thomas (A/S ’73, MEd ’79, Ed Spec ’81) and Janet (Laux) Biblewski (Ed ’73, UTCTC ’84)
Toledo

Shy guy smitten by hair

I met my wife, Michele, in 1990 in the pharmacy program. Even though the program is small compared to other majors, there are still enough students where one could get away without being part of a clique or part of the mainstream campus. I was that person — shy but funny if you got to know me. Because I was a little older than the other students (I went into the service after graduating high school), it took me a little while to warm up to most folks.

One girl caught my eye, though, and her name was Amy. One night she was having a beer in Angelo’s Attic with a friend, Michele. I didn’t know either girl, but I did know that I was very smitten with Amy. I was sitting directly across the bar from Amy and Michele and after a few minutes, Amy made eye contact with me. So I waved. Michele also thought I was waving to her and offered a wave back. I didn’t want to embarrass her so I also smiled and acted like I was waving to her instead.

The semester ended without incident (no date from either girl because I was too terrified to ask either out). Fall quarter of 1990 would prove to be more interesting. My first class was English 295. When I walked in, I sat down behind this very attractive girl. Well, I technically only saw her hair at first, but it worked for me. Our first assignment was to write something about ourselves.

We had to stand and present our assignments. So when pretty-hair girl stood and turned, I was shocked to find out it was Michele. She gave her presentation, I gave mine, and so on and so on.

My inability (for about a month) to strike up a conversation with her came to a screeching halt one day when we were outside our 295 class during a break. Another fellow in class approached Michele and began a lame attempt at small talk. Of course I was furious, but I only had myself to blame. I couldn’t take his banter any longer so I shuffled over, stepped in front of him and said to Michele, “Your favorite color is royal blue, you admire the eagle because of its strength, you are quiet, friendly, kind and giving.

You played the flute for 10 years, cheered in your youth, have a brother Shawn, a sister Lisa and if you give me 10 more minutes of your time, I would surely love to get to know more about you.” She mentioned my shy wave the previous quarter, smiled and said she was wondering why I hadn’t talked with her since that evening.

We’ve been together ever since.

She is a pharmacist for Rite-Aid, I am the director of the Canton City Health Department as well as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Coast Guard. We have two children, Ethan (12) and Emily (8). I have spent quite a bit of time away from home since 9/11 but because of who she is, life has only gotten better these last 20 years.

Mark H. (att. 1989-91) and Michele Adams (Pharm ’95)
Canal Fulton, Ohio

Election, then elation

My husband, Lavelle Edmondson, and I met at UT 11 years ago and have been happily married for seven years. In addition to being a proud alumnus, I am also a former employee, working in the Office of Undergraduate Admission as the assistant director. I left my position at UT to be a stay-at-home mom for our two daughters Lily 2 and Chloe.

Lavelle and I met doing what we both loved: participating in extracurricular activities. The first time we saw each other, Lavelle was campaigning for Student Government vice president and I was working for the opposing ticket! We were introduced to each other by a mutual friend shortly after the campaign ended. Even though I worked for the opposing SG ticket, I quickly became a huge supporter of Lavelle once he took office. We dated all through college, which gave us the opportunity to make so many memories together, including when Lavelle served as the student representative for the Board of Trustees. We got engaged a few months before we graduated in 2002, and were married in a Christmas ceremony on December 27, 2003. I’m sure not many people can say this: Thanks to UT’s Student Government campaigns, I was lucky enough to meet my amazing husband!

Claire (Best) (A/S ’02) and Lavelle Edmondson (Bus ’02)
Maumee, Ohio

Volunteering for love

We met at Parks Tower, volunteering for and leading four relief trips after Hurricane Katrina. We both worked and lived on campus for two years — he drove the bus and I worked as an RA and at the Grad School. And we got married on New Year’s Eve 2009. We also both work for First Solar in the IT Department. We were both active on campus and still active within the business fraternity (Alpha Kappa Psi) as alumni.

Allison (Dagilis) (Bus’ 08) and Edward Michels (Bus ’09)
San Francisco, California

In sickness and in health

He was just another guy, and I another coed. We “met” when I went with my very good friend, Kathy Teaman Blazoff (A/S ’83,) to visit her “crush,” Steve Peck (Bus ’82), in Carter West. His roommate was this guy from my chemistry classes, Dennis Eller. He was lying in bed reading a Sports Illustrated Magazine when Kathy and I barged into their room. We chatted for a while and left never really meeting the roommate behind the magazine.

Due to the crush Kathy had on Steve, we continued to barge into the lives of Steve and Denny. Another good friend, Maureen Ladner, dated a good friend of Steve’s, Gary Crump (A&S ’82). We soon became a nice, happy group of friends that included several other close friends.

Fast forward to senior year. Dennis had a crush on a girl in my biology classes. I suggested he come over for a makeover in my room on the 13th floor of Parks Towers where I was an RA. I cut his hair and told him to grow a mustache. The romance with the biology student didn’t pan out, but Dennis started looking better to me with the new hairstyle and mustache. Friends also mentioned he was interested in me as well. When he asked me to watch the UT-BGSU basketball game in his front row courtside seats, I knew he really liked me! We went to dinner at Max and Erma’s (when they had phones on the tables). The rest is history: married in 1984, two wonderful sons (Michael and Kevin), and living happily in Bay Village, Ohio.

In December of 2009, Dennis was diagnosed with brain cancer. He was treated at University Hospitals of Cleveland by a neurosurgeon named Dr. Warren Selman, another University of Toledo graduate! He took such good care of him, Dennis is still reading Sports Illustrated magazines next to me, and he still has his mustache!

We visit UT often — usually for Homecoming tailgating! We are lucky to have so many of our UT friends still in our lives. These friends were such a big part of Dennis’ recovery and such a source of strength for me! They include Rick Cundiff (Bus ’82), Kathy Teaman Blazoff (A/S ’83), Steve Blazoff (Ed ’81), Steve Peck (Bus ’82), Maureen Ladner (attended 78-81), Sandy Wolchko D’Anniballe (A/S ’83), Blair Thompson (A&S ’82), Mike Ritzenthaler (Pharm ’85), and Brad Brigeman (Pharm ’83). We feel so fortunate to have such wonderful, loving friends from our “Rocket” days!

We have had 26 wonderful years together thanks to meeting at The University of Toledo. With lots of love, prayer, and friendship, we hope to have 26 more great years of Rocket romance!

Susan (Neroni) (A/S ’82) and Dennis Eller (Pharm ’83)
Bay Village, Ohio

Band geeks hit high notes

My husband and I met in the Center for Performing Arts right before the start of spring semester 2002. A mutual friend introduced us in the hallway right outside the band room. Jon never believes me when I say this, but at that moment I first saw him I thought “I could end up marrying this guy some day.” I shook his hand and said hello, talked for a few minutes with him and then kind of went about my day not thinking much of it.

Over spring semester we were in Concert Band together. I was a trombone player, sitting in the back of the room and he was a percussionist (also in the back of the room.) For one song he had to play the timpani, which were placed right behind my chair. The one timpani drum had a foot pedal that would slip and make this God-awful noise that the whole room could hear. It was always something the rest of the band and director disliked, but the players really couldn’t help it. I didn’t realize it was an accidental kind of thing, so sometimes I would turn around and shoot Jon a dirty look. He was always very good-natured about it and would just shrug it off.

Come the following fall semester, we were both in the Rocket Marching Band, but we usually didn’t run in the same circles so we didn’t have a lot of reason to talk to each other.

However, destiny started working its magic. In a crazy roundabout sort of way I heard through a chain of no fewer than five people that he thought I was cute. I considered him cute, too, but I didn’t know him well so I figured I’d just play it cool until he asked me out. It took awhile — in fact, I’d totally given up hope — when one day he approached me on the practice field after a long, hot afternoon practice for Marching Band and said, “Do you have any plans for Friday night? Would you like to go to the symphony and dinner with me?”

Well, that was enough to get my attention. We were married in August of 2009 among many of our friends that were there from the very beginning. When we talk about the start of our relationship, we realize how much of it we need to attribute to their support (and peer pressure). You know a lot of people make fun of band geeks, but I have to tell you: the RMB has produced several strong, long-term relationships. I think part of it stems from the commitment it takes just to be in band to begin with, and that later translates to the rest of our lives.

Michele (Bus ’05) and Jonathan Wilson (att. 2002-04)
Perrysburg, Ohio

It’s chemistry

I met my wife Carol while we were both freshmen at UT. I walked into chemistry class (Dr. John Chrysochoos was our professor) on January 14, 1972 and sat next to Carol for a chance meeting that has lasted a lifetime! We like to say that the chemistry was right! Carol was a “townie,” while I was a “dormie.” We dated throughout college and were married before my senior year at UT (September 14, 1974). We have now been married 36 years and have two beautiful daughters (Maryann, age 27 and Juliann, age 23) who are now living out of state. We had the good fortune to visit Dr. Chrysochoos while the girls were teenagers where we introduced him to our daughters (again, all that good chemistry). Carol finished her degree in nursing after leaving UT and is now a nurse practitioner here in Ohio. We recently moved back to this area and look forward to more involvement with UT.

Glenn (A/S ’75) and Carol (Ingersoll) Cairns (att.)
Findlay, Ohio

Socked in

One afternoon in the late 50s we met in the UT Library. She went up the library steps and looked into the lounge area but the doors were locked. She saw me on a couch in my stocking feet. It was love at first sight; she liked my stocking feet. Because the door was locked, she walked hundreds of steps around the book stacks to find the lounge and talk to me. During the next year, I met her family and her TriDelta sisters and they liked me, so I was chosen. She apparently saw the eyes of her unborn children in my blue eyes. She knew what she was getting into. I only had enough money to take her to the movies one time and that was to see Gigi at the Paramount Theater — in the afternoon at reduced prices. I graduated in chemical engineering two years ahead of her, but we got married the same day of my graduation and moved to Radford, Virginia. She graduated at Radford College for Women in Virginia two years later. I had a job making rocket fuels, but I lived through all the explosions and we had three children who became a doctor, a nurse and a physical therapist. We now have four grandchildren (all above average, as Garrison Keillor might say). I have been retired for many years but Judy still enjoys going to work as an analyst at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. We fund a scholarship at UT in appreciation. And she still likes my stocking feet.

Don (Eng ’59) and Judith (O’Callaghan) Bollenbacher (att. 1958-59)
Huntsville, Alabama

Love in a pumpkin patch

My husband Jeff and I met in high school. It was my senior year and his junior year that things began to spark. Jeff asked me to a pumpkin patch to help pick out a pumpkin for his younger sister, which I couldn’t turn down. That first date turned into many and soon it was time for me to head off to college. Thankfully it was just about a 30-minute drive, but living in another state and only seeing each other on the weekends seemed impossible for us.

He’d sent me off with a promise ring so that all the boys would know that I was “taken.” I would drive back after my classes on Fridays to catch him playing football, or he’d surprise me during the middle of the week and take me to dinner. It was a tough year, but one we got through.

Lucky for us, Jeff decided to come down to UT, too. My roommates and I stayed off campus at University Hills, and he and his friends grabbed an apartment across the courtyard from us. It was wonderful! We’d walk to classes together, try to get a similar time schedule and share books when we could. Going to the UT football games were always a blast together.

But then it was time for me to graduate and for him to finish his degree. I headed home and got into the “real world” and he ended up commuting his last year to save money and be close to me. Much to my surprise, the fall of his last year in school he brought me back to that same pumpkin patch from our first date and proposed to me. We planned a beautiful wedding two years from that date and invited many of our college friends to attend.

It’s funny because now Jeff’s sister is down at UT with her boyfriend. It’s great to see them do some of the same things we used to do. I can only hope their story ends as happily as ours.

To this day, we head down to bike the trails and ride around campus. We even started running the Glass City races just because it’s so nice to run through campus. Things have changed so much down there, but the memories make it seem so familiar.

Jennifer (Bus ’04) and Jeff Sims (Bus ’05)
Newport, Michigan

Bridge over kissing waters

We first met at the pool tables in the Rec Center mid-freshman year. We had a slow start to our relationship limited to mostly campus activities, as both of us were dorm residents and without transportation. Finally our relationship grew more romantic, and we shared our first kiss on the bridge on the west side of campus, between the Performing Arts building and the Academic House.

Shortly after graduating, we were married and now have two children. We enjoy visiting our old stomping grounds on a nearly daily basis, as our children have been attending the Appletree Nursery School. Both of our kids are very curious about the campus and how we met there. About a year ago, as we were driving over that very bridge, I told the story of our fist kiss. Our son immediately named the site “the kissing bridge” and has shared that once-private story with a number of family members, teachers, etc. We now drive over the kissing bridge regularly on our way to Appletree and the story is often re-told.

We’ve enjoyed watching the University campus grow and change over the years. Our son fully intends (at age 6) to attend UT for college. He’s already picked out the dormitory that he would like to live in (the large X shaped one). We enjoy attending Rockets games as a family, both football and basketball. Our kids have Rocket wardrobes and our son already has plans to dress as Rocky the Rocket for Halloween.

Tricia (Erhardt) (att. 1994-98) and Charlie Seddon (Bus ’98)
Sylvania, Ohio

Glass Bowl of love

My husband and I grew up in the same area of West Toledo, went to the same junior high and high school, but didn’t meet until we were both students at The University of Toledo in 2003.

We met through a mutual friend as I was beginning my senior year as a communication major, and he was in his third year majoring in finance and criminal justice. I was also a dancer with the Rockettes, and my (future) husband came to every home game. I can remember in those early days the excitement I felt performing on the field, knowing that he was in the stands somewhere, watching.

In the years after I graduated, as he continued his studies through graduate school at UT, attending football games at the Glass Bowl was a treasured tradition for us. Now that we no longer live in the Toledo area, we follow the Rockets and whenever we can, watch them play on TV.

We married in 2007, and moved to the Columbus area in October 2009. The University of Toledo will always hold a special place in our hearts, not only as the place where we became adults and began to build our futures, but also as a special place where we fell in love.

Melanie (Pudlicki) (A/S ’04) and Jason Ash (HHS ’06, Bus ’06, MBA ’09)
London, Ohio

We’re with the Band

My husband Adam and I met while in Marching Band at UT. One of the formations put our two sections together — we met and have been together ever since. Since we were poor college students, our together time usually was spent playing pool at A-House, or sitting together while I checked in guests to the dorm after 8 pm.

The October after we graduated we got married, and since have welcomed our first son, who proudly wears his “future Rocket” gear. Even in the heart of Scarlet & Gray country, we proudly wear our Toledo Blue and Gold — and have to tell everyone it’s for Toledo and not Michigan.

Side story: Adam and I went to high school about 10 minutes apart from each other, yet never met until we went to UT. During our freshman year and before we were dating, the band had a show for the parents in the Glass Bowl before the football season started. In the entire Glass Bowl, our parents happened to sit next to each other, started talking and learned about the other’s child. After that, my mom was telling me I should meet and date Adam him since he was from close to home. Similarly, Adam’s mom was telling him the same thing about me.

But seriously, who listens to dating advice from their parents?

Sara (Barger) (Bus ’05) and Adam Innes (A/S ’05)
Lewis Center, Ohio

So who needs money?

My husband met in June 2006 while he was an engineering major and I was a social work major. At the time I was working on campus at the candy counter in the Student Union where he was a customer who stopped in between classes.

We spent time hanging at some of the best hangouts on campus including Starbucks and the Student Union. We also had a fun walking around the beautiful Main Campus. Of course, at the time we didn’t have much money, but we made the best of it. On June 19, 2010 after working so hard in college we got married, and if it wasn’t for our time spent at UT we would have never met and had the great adventure that we had.

Tara Bojarski-Wick (A/S ’09) and Mathew Wick (HHS ’09)
Sylvania, Ohio

Love in the curriculum

In 1966 I met my wife at the old Tabard Inn on Dorr Street during the summer after I had returned to the University in Jan of 1966. She was a local townie, I was an East-Coast-out-of-town student. She used to drive me to class when I lived in the AEPi Fraternity House around the corner from her house. I used to wait for her in the old Community College Building between classes. She taught me how to drive a stick shift so I could drive my first car.

When I pledged a fraternity during the fall semester, she had to deal with me and all of the stuff we used to do. (Her brothers and cousins and uncles were all a part of the fraternity.) hen there were the Homecomings, formals and fraternity parties and other activities.

We spent summers and weekends at the Tabard Inn and The Pub, both on Dorr Street. Little did we know that we would end up living around the corner from The Pub when our first child was born.

We were married in August 1969. The week of our wedding I was enrolled in a UT Summer Workshop and spent a day in a Detroit brewery learning about employment opportunities (and of course tasting the beer).

We walked down the University aisle in 1970 when we both graduated the second time around. When she was working on her teaching degree, she had many professors who I had worked with or was working with. In fact, she had to sit in class and see video tapes of things I was doing as a teacher.

She is still employed for Toledo Public Schools; I am semi-retired doing consulting and teaching. We have three grown children and four grandchildren.
Happily married for 42 years.

Howard J. Moskowitz PhD (Ed ’68, MEd ’70, PhD ’80) and Linda Rosenberg Moskowitz (UTCTC ’68, Ed ’70)
Toledo

Written in the stars

My husband and I met over 30 years ago as transfer students during our first year on the UT campus in Dr. Bernie Bopp’s astronomy class, gazing up at the stars in Ritter Planetarium. (Corny, isn’t it?) It was the typical ‘love at first sight’ for both of us and we dated, were engaged a few years later and have been together ever since. We have two sons who are now both attending UT. All of my sisters are Rocket alum and many of my husband’s family are as well.

Andrea (Deason) (A/S ’82, UTCTC ’86, A/S ’09, MLS ’09) and John Joldrichsen (UTCTC ’86)
Rossford, Ohio