Photo provided by Audrey Wolf Photography From left to right: Jay Love, Christie Love, Peter Maxwell, Emily Kile Maxwell, Nick Kile, Kim Kile, Nancy Stamm, Erin Kile, Kevin Stamm, and Anna Stanley
THREE GENERATIONS of LOVE EACH BRANCH OF THIS FAMILY TREE SPROUTED ON CAMPUS By Cindy Conover Dashnaw
A three-generation love story began on the lawn of Pi Beta Phi when senior Nancy Bush ’60 strolled out to meet someone she “thought was pretty handsome”: Richard Stamm, just returned from military service. “My dad grew up with Butler in his backyard,” said his daughter, Kim (Stamm) Kile ’89 MS ’98. “He had come back from the military ready to enroll at Butler when he met my mom. So they got married on campus, and he went into business to support them.” Twenty years later, history began to repeat itself. First, both of Nancy and Richard’s children attended Butler. Then, although son Kevin Stamm ’88 married outside the Butler family, he introduced his sister to fraternity brother Nick Kile ’87—and just like her mother, Kim married that handsome guy on campus. “We used to ‘take a row,’ as everyone called it: walk along a row of fraternity houses and chat with people on their porches,” Kim said. “It was hanging out in a nice social way.” Kim and Nick’s ceremony “wedded” three Butler families: the Stamms, the Kiles, and the Loves. Nick’s sister, Bulldog Christie Kile ’79, had married fellow Bulldog Jay Love ’76 a decade earlier. Even Kim’s mother-in-law had a Butler degree! The Kiles had four children, who grew up surrounded by all things Butler and accompanied their mother to work in admissions. In 2010, Emily Kile ’14 became a third-generation Butler student—and part of yet another Butler couple when she married Peter Maxwell ’16.
Richard and Nancy (Bush) ’60 Stamm wedding in Butler’s Robertson Chapel
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BUTLER MAGAZINE | LEGACIES
“We hadn’t planned on staying in Indianapolis after graduation,” Emily said. “But now we can’t imagine living anywhere else. Butler made us appreciate how diverse the city can be in experiences and opportunities.” Emily’s siblings are keeping the family tree alive: one’s at Butler, one’s marrying a Bulldog, and wherever the youngest lands in 2018, Butler will always have a presence at a Kile house. “We’ve had lots of amazing friendships and experiences with Butler,” Kim said. “I can’t image our world without it.”