And Other Tales of Enduring Romance A
n o i n u e R s n o i Un
Ma Many a Andover romances began with chance meetings on thee Great Lawn or in classrooms, the dining hall, or gym. Butt dozens of happily married alumni couples barely—or neve verr never—knew each other as students. Here are just a few tale es o tales of those who met years later at reunions or alumni even e tss and quickly rediscovered their common bond. events Fo or thes s and so many other reasons, don’t miss your next For these reunion or the next alumni event in your area! re Madelon Curtis Harper ’69 & Stephen Harper ’69
Sa Sandy andy n y Urie ’70 & Fr Frank ran nk Herron ’70 0
Farah Peterson ’01 & Eugene Sokoloff ’00
Joan “Whippie” Whipple ’64 & Henry “Terry” Trimble III ’64
We did not know each other at Andover. Our senior year was the first year of “coordination” between Andover and Abbot. Sandy took a Spanish class on the PA campus and often ate dinner afterward at Commons. Frank was less on the ball. He was only dimly aware of a whispered-about Shangri-La to the north—Terrabbot Incognita. He does not recall setting foot on the campus. Ever. Really. We got to know each other over the years through participation in various alumni activities. In other words, we fell into a pattern of chatting every five years—at reunions—whether we needed to or not. Probably the most provocative conversations were in 1995 and 2000. By that time both of us were divorced. The romance began in 2005, and we were married in April 2007. On our honeymoon we hiked across the narrow waist of England along Alfred Wainwright’s Coast-to-Coast Walk. Since that 220-mile trek, we’ve been pretty much in step.
30
Andover | Winter 2011
“I am sooooo bored.” And with that she abruptly left the Friday night gathering at our 25th Reunion— having just spent the last half hour talking to me! Well, you can’t win them all, I thought. Later that night, I was looking through the Abbot Class of 1964 yearbook and noticed a picture of the cute girl I had been talking to so unsuccessfully earlier. She had lived in the same Long Island town where my brother and sister currently live. The next day I saw her in the lunch line and decided to talk to her again—about Locust Valley. This time we enjoyed each other and spent the rest of the day talking and walking the beautiful Andover campus. A year later from that Friday night we were married. We are blessed with a daughter who is now 17 and have been married 20 years. Still living in southern Maine, we go back to Andover every reunion.
They say timing is everything, and it certainly was for us! Stephen and I met at our 30th Reunion on June 12, 1999 (my 48th birthday). I had decided to attend at the last minute. When we all assembled for our class photo that Saturday afternoon, he was standing behind me—the photo is testament to that moment! Later that evening we met, talked, danced, exchanged e-mails, and then parted ways. Not long afterward, we had our first date in Boston’s North End (he had returned from California to attend the reunion) and reminisced over the yearbook for hours. That’s how it all began… On a surprise trip to Paris, Stephen proposed to me on the Pont Neuf on June 12, 2001 (my 50th birthday). We were married by Rev. Mike Ebner ’70 in Cochran Chapel a year later and held our reception at the Andover Inn. We will forever be indebted to Andover for helping us grow as individuals and for bringing us together when the time was right!
Farah: Eugene and I met for the first time in April 2006 at a Manhattan event for young alums. Right away I knew I wanted to get to know him better. I called to ask him out to dinner, and over the next few weeks we wandered through art museums and made Central Park our own. Eugene: But just a few months after meeting, my job moved me to Moscow for a year. Farah: Being pulled apart after that sublime beginning was difficult, but the depth of our phone conversations made us more intimate friends than we might have become had we just been dating. When Eugene returned, I started my PhD at Princeton and he started a master’s at Columbia. Eugene: Later when we found out we had gotten into the same law school, I was ecstatic. At Yale’s admit weekend, my mother asked me if it was time to take out the family ring. I had a thrill of total certainty. When Farah walked up a few moments later, it was all I could do to keep from asking her right then!