Our story has two beginnings and one ending. We first met in the Fall of 1982, our sophomore year at the University of Dayton. It was in the lounge at Kennedy Union on campus. This pretty young lady with a warm smile who seemed approachable was in the sitting area on the second floor. I decided to take a chance and ask her out on a date. Thankfully she said ‘YES’. Her name was and is Mary Ann. That was the first beginning. We dated for 4 ½ years. After which each of us went our separate ways. The reasons are immaterial as a second beginning was our destiny but unbeknownst to us at the time. Fast forward to 30+++ years (40) and the stage was set for a second beginning. It was June 7th 2024 and the location was the St Helen’s festival. It was my first time at the festival. I went with a group of friends to see The Doug Hart band. A band we had seen earlier that year at the Phone Booth Lounge. We are sitting at a picnic table by the pine trees when a group of ladies come up who apparently like the same band and sit in the row of tables across from our group. One pretty lady caught my eye, and she looked familiar but with blonde hair. Then she smiled and I recognized that smile and her. It was Mary Ann. It was awkward at first as neither of us knew how to break the ice and meet. Fortunately, a mutual friend from college encouraged that we at least meet and talk. Thank you Patty W!! I remember holding hands, talking and embracing her. I was thunderstruck. Bob Perry will tell you I couldn’t stop talking about the encounter for the rest of the evening. Thankfully Bob is a good friend and patient! Mary Ann and I went to lunch a couple of days later on Sunday the 9th. She looked stunning when I came to pick her up for our first date in a few decades. 3 ½ hours at Cooper’s Hawk. We talked about the past and the present. Who knew at the lunch date that the future would be as wonderful and enriching as it has been. There is a destiny to us and the life we are about to share. Neither of us planned to be at St Helen’s that night but something or a little voice said ‘Go’ ‘Follow your heart’ Our meeting was not by chance or coincidental. It had to happen at the right time in our respective lives. Too many God winks for just a coincidental meeting.

A month after our reuniting at St Helen’s I had cancer surgery. Mary Ann was there and brought support and comfort and ensured that I didn’t have to eat hospital food (Oakwood Club) and that I got the care I needed. Her time caring for her mother had forged an iron will with a caring heart. That’s when I started to realize that there was so much more to her than the woman I knew in college. Since then, our life together has been a culmination experience, fun things like dinners out, dinners with friends, football games, basketball games dancing at the AFMC Ball and the Fleurs de Fetter at Carillon park and a whole lot of other fun things. There have been late night talks, walks in the park, going to the gym EARLY in the morning, races and learning to play golf and water skiing (Mary Ann – Bob got a new hip in January). Most importantly we attend services together on Sunday and/or Saturday. We have grown together spiritually, emotionally and have really gotten to know the other person. We’ve learned our respective love languages, personalities, communication styles and have learned to trust our life partner with our most dear emotions and feelings. It has been a time of learning and each day we grow closer together.

We got engaged at the Omega statue outside the library on UD’s campus on December 23, 2024 after a wonderful dinner at The Pine Club. We spent a lot of time at the library during our college years, and The Pine Club holds many fond memories both past and present. What an exciting metropolitan couple! The library. In a way, it is emblematic of us as a couple. Each enriches the others’ lives by being together and we enjoy a little romance wherever we are and in whatever we are doing. Building Blocks for Marriage was an important process for us to complete. We learned a lot about each other in the classes and the exercises. But for us the proof is that we work well together. We complement each other and recognize the other’s strengths and weaknesses. Pre-Cana should include clearing houses and maneuvering a boat inside and out of a barn! If one can do that and laugh and have fun in the process, then you are a great team and will have an enriching marriage. We are a great team!

The last few months have been the best to date as we have really got to know each other and are really becoming one as a couple and understanding our curves and edges and perfect imperfections. We have grown spiritually, emotionally, and got better physically. It’s been a truly enriching time. One thing I have come to realize is while Mary Ann is a beautiful woman her true beauty resides on the inside. She is a caring and loving person. She has given me her heart, and I cherish that with all that I am and will treat it with the care and love that she deserves.

On September 6, 2025 we will be married and start our life together. It will be the start of a wonderful journey as a married couple.

I thank God every day that He brought us together.