Features
How Did You Two Meet?
It's a question all couples get asked at some point in their relationship, so in the spirit of Valentine's Day, At Guelph put the question to a number of couples who work on campus. Here's what they had to say.
Karen and Kelly Bertrand
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| Karen and Kelly Bertrand got engaged on the day after Valentine's Day three months after they met. Here, they pose with a photo from their wedding and pictures of their children, Keaton and Kyle. Photo by Rebecca Kendall |
Karen Bertrand, senior manager of advancement for the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, and Kelly Bertrand, associate director of organizational services in the office of the chief information officer, met in 1984 while working for Sears.
“He was a company auditor,” says Karen. “He had no retail experience, so Sears sent him to the Guelph store to work the floor in all departments for two weeks.We almost didn't meet because I was on vacation the first week he was in the store. We met when he was being oriented to my area, and we started going out for coffee.”
After she got back from their first coffee together, her co-workers told her they thought Kelly was married because he'd been seen shopping with a woman who had the same last name. “The woman was his sister,” says Karen.
Kelly proposed to Karen on the day after Valentine's Day just three months after they had met. “I felt at home with her — it seemed like a no-brainer,” he says.
The Bertrands have been married for 11 years and have two children.
Chris and Nick Boyadjian
Senior graphic designer Chris Boyadjian met her husband, Nick, special events co-ordinator for the University Centre, in 1980 when both were students at U of G. Chris was sitting on a bench outside the Bullring with a high school friend when Nick came over to talk to the friend.
“I have to admit I was the instigator,” says Chris, who called Nick soon after that brief encounter and asked him to go dancing at the Bullring with some friends. “It was back in the day when dancing in the Bullring was the thing to do on weekends. It started off as a group date because I didn't want to scare him right off the bat.”
He obviously wasn't scared off because the two were married in 1981 and celebrated their 25th anniversary last year. They have three children and usually celebrate Valentine's Day with a quiet dinner at home. “And Nick always buys me flowers,” says Chris.
Anthony and Lee Anne Clarke
Prof. Anthony Clarke, acting associate vice-president (research services) and his wife, Lee Anne, office manager for the Central Student Association, met at their Burlington high school 32 years ago.
“I was making a movie with a friend,” says Anthony. “It was sort of a combination of George Orwell's book 1984 and the Led Zeppelin song Stairway to Heaven, if you can believe it. Anyway, there was one scene where we had to have a large crowd, and we needed a bunch of extras. Lee Anne was cast as an extra because she was a friend of the girlfriend of the guy who was making the movie with me.
“Because my friend and her friend were dating, we started hanging out together and going on double dates. After a while, our friends split up, but we kept on going.”
Married for 27 years, the Clarkes have three children.
Elizabeth Ewan and Kris Inwood
Prof. Elizabeth Ewan, History, and Prof. Kris Inwood, Economics, almost met in February 1988 when she was teaching at the University of Victoria and he was at U of G. Inwood was slated to speak at a conference at Victoria that Ewan planned to attend, but she had to change her plans when she got a call from Guelph inviting her to come interview for a faculty position. While Inwood was winging his way west, she was flying east to Ontario.
A year later at Guelph, one of Ewan's faculty colleagues invited her over for dinner one night and asked if she'd mind if an economist friend joined them.
“At the time, there weren't many male faculty around my age at Guelph because of a hiring freeze, so I imagined the economist would be an elderly man,” she says. Turned out he wasn't.
Ewan and Inwood became friends but didn't actually start dating for another two years. They were married in 1993.
Dan and Sally Maclachlan
Dan Maclachlan, director of maintenance and energy services in Physical Resources, says he had to go all the way from Ontario to Alberta to land a girl from Newfoundland.
He and his wife, Sally, the administrative assistant in the Department of Population Medicine, met in Fort McMurray, and he admits having to win over some of her family and friends who were upset that “an unworthy mainlander” had stolen her heart.
Just in case Sally still wonders if she did the right thing by marrying him, Dan starts each Valentine's Day with flowers and hosts “a romantic dinner for two on Saturday night.” What else? “Cards for all three of my girls,” he says. “Nothing for the dog; he's got a girlfriend next door.”
Helen and Paul Salmon
Helen Salmon, associate chief librarian in the U of G Library's user services department, and Prof. Paul Salmon, English and Theatre Studies, met in 1976 as first-year students at the University of Western Ontario.
“We were attracted to each other but also pretty shy and reluctant to make a first move,” says Helen. “We spent the next few years smiling at each other across classrooms or passing in hallways but never taking it further.”
On the day of their convocation, they “re-met” each other standing in line waiting to collect their degrees. Later that day, they ended up at the same restaurant for dinner with their families. “Clearly destiny was at work,” says Helen, “so Paul decided to risk everything by suggesting we have coffee together sometime . . . maybe.”
When the coffee date did finally occur, it quickly led to romance, she says. The couple, who have a teenage son, will celebrate their 25th anniversary this summer.
Patricia Tersigni and David Wood
Patricia Tersigni, co-ordinator of undergraduate curriculum, and David Wood, OVC's WebCT co-ordinator, met in 2002 when Tersigni became OVC's recruitment and careers officer. “I thought Dave was a really super guy, and he seemed to get along well with all of the dean's office staff, so I couldn't figure out why he was less chatty with me when troubleshooting my IT issues,”says Tersigni.
“We had a chance to get to know each other socially after finding ourselves at a party held by a mutual friend, and we soon began dating. As we learned more about our histories, we realized we had completed our undergraduate degrees here at Guelph during the same period and have a number of friends in common. We sometimes wonder if a little bit of karma brought us together years later.” They were married in September 2005.
Celeste Bannon Waterman and Rob Waterman
When Celeste Bannon Waterman, director of central services in Alumni Affairs and Development (AA&D), and Rob Waterman, associate director, information services, in AA&D, got married in May 1996, they held the ceremony in War Memorial Hall. “It was all about the Guelph connection,” says Celeste, who completed her undergraduate degree that spring.
She met Rob through a friend of a friend. Wendy Dunk of Kingston lived next door to Celeste in Tundra during their first year at Guelph. “One weekend, one of Wendy's high school friends came to Guelph to see her and brought a guy he knew from work,” says Celeste. “That was Rob, and the four of us ended up hanging out for the weekend.”
Their romance blossomed immediately, she says, and Rob ended up finishing his Brock degree at U of G. They were both working in Computing and Communications Services when they got married, and their wedding party was full of Guelph friends. They now have two sons.