Tom and Dana met in the hallowed halls of their dorm, Lincoln Avenue Residence (affectionately known as LAR), in Urbana at the University of Illinois. Dana and a few of her new friends stopped by Tom and usher Ben Streeter’s room to say hi after a floor meeting the night before class started. You’ll even find this date, 8/26/12, engraved on the inside of Dana’s engagement ring.

Over the next few weeks, they didn’t see much of each other due to busy schedules with Greek life and soccer, but the spark was there. One day, there was a dorm event in the basement of LAR. Naturally, Tom skipped it, but Dana reeled him into the room when she saw him walking by after dinner. Tom knew she was interested.

They began to talk and hang out more throughout the fall semester at late-night dinners at nearby dorm PAR and Greek events. They first went out together at an off-campus bar called High Dive, when Dana’s sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma, and Tom’s fraternity, Theta Xi, had an ABC-themed exchange (Anything But Clothes). Dana wore a newspaper dress, and Tom wore a garbage bag. Tom even met Dana’s family once that fall; thankfully, he was wearing clothes then.

Tom eventually worked up the courage to ask Dana out after Christmas break, and they had their first official date at Flat Top on February 9, 2013, which was at the corner of Sixth and Green on campus. The rest is history. Throughout college they had fun together at parties, Tom’s soccer games, football and basketball games, and visits to Chicago, Naperville, Morton, Springfield, Indianapolis, Michigan, and Minnesota.

They’ve survived multiple stretches of living away from each other with lots of weekend visits and trips together, even in 2021 and 2022 with Dana in Tampa and Chicago and Tom in Chicago and Edwardsville. Dana studied abroad in college for a summer in China, and Tom went to Sweden for a semester. They both lived in Chicago for a year after college before Tom moved to Minneapolis for two years to coach soccer at Augsburg University. Then, they both moved to Tampa.

On December 18, 2020, Tom proposed to Dana at sunset on the beach in Siesta Key, which is their favorite spot in Florida and where the Romanos and their family have vacationed for years. They celebrated with a steak dinner at Summer House and flew home to Chicago the next morning to surprise everyone with the good news. Dana didn’t see it coming.

Fun Facts

The Homas and their cousins, the Rolands, lived in Clarendon Hills and were parishioners at Notre Dame Catholic Church for several years. Tom, Andy, and their cousin, John, were baptized at Notre Dame.

Dana's parents, Dave and Claudia, got married on July 14 (the day before Dana and Tom's wedding) in 1990 nearby at Christ the King Catholic Church in Lombard.