Adviser’s Note:  The following staff stories were featured in the Online Tritonian in February 2019.  Add six years to the marriage dates! Use the search bar to read love/marriage stories of the Dorys, the Hinnendaels, the Schroeders, the Gelbs, the Bialks and the Mattkes.  

The picture above features NDA staffers at the Hinch wedding in Bailey’s Harbor.

Mike and Carolyn Brown

Mrs. Brown met her husband, Mike, while playing ping pong with his college roommate when she was a sophomore at Texas Tech. During the game, Mike sent his roommate to go find another girl so they could play a game of doubles. The next day he ended up running into “Carolyn” while she was walking across campus to a class. Little did she know he had looked up her schedule to intentionally run into her. Mike had tickets to go see Simon and Garfunkel. 

“I would have gone to see Simon and Garfunkel with anyone,” joked Brown. Simon and Garfunkel ended up being two hours late for the show due to miscommunication. “They ended up putting on a great show and the rest is history,” said Brown. They will be married 50 years on June 7th.

Holly and Justin Hinch

Mrs. Holly Hinch met her husband through online dating. “I was the first person he contacted,” said Hinch. “We hit it off right away!” They ended up meeting for their first date at The Bottle Room in August of 2014. After four years, they got married last June 23 in Bailey’s Harbor, Door County. The night before Academy Ball in 2017, they went out to dinner, a dinner that turned out to be their engagement meal. Three Notre Dame students were serving them. “They took our picture for us!” she said.

Jane and Matthew Schultz

Mr. Schultz met his wife, Jane, at a graduation party in college. He wasn’t originally going to attend because he didn’t like the person the party was for. They both attended Eau Claire for college. They now have three kids and will be married 15 years in August.

Julia and Greg Geiser

The first time Mr. Geiser saw his wife, Julia, she was standing on a table.  This was at his freshman orientation at college, and she was explaining the text rental system to him and a group of about 30 other people. “That girl is interesting,” thought Gesier. The next time they saw each other was on spring break. They both attended a mission trip to Kentucky where they spent a lot of time together. “We worked hard, we connected,” said Geiser. Once they returned to Green Bay they decided to go on a date. They got married in the summer of 1997. “We have similar values, we are equally able to challenge and support each other, and we have a great time together,” said the history teacher.  “That’s why we are sweethearts.”

Amy and Russell Stover

Señora Stover met her husband, Russell through mutual friends at work. They were set up by friends at a Christmas party. They ate and talked for almost an hour. Amy did not think it went well; then two weeks passed and they went to lunch. “Things took off from there,” she said. They will be married 20 years in April. 

Caitlin and Ben Vanden Wyngaard

Mrs. Vanden Wyngaard met her husband, Ben, while working at a restaurant. “He was the dishwasher and I was a line cook and a waitress,” she said. They will be married for nine years this October and have had two kids.

Jessie and Taylor Adams

Jessie and Taylor met on a blind date that was arranged by mutual friends in May of 2014. They started dating in July and became engaged in October. They were married at Fox Hills Resort in September of 2016. They have had two children, a three-year-old daughter named Annabel and a one-year-old son named Lincoln, and another one on the way. They also have two cats named Crookshanks and Neytiri.

Cassidy and Jamie McGowan

Mr. McGowan met his spouse, Jamie, who is a Notre Dame Academy graduate from 2002. They met at the end of his freshman year at Marquette University.  She was only a floor above him the entire time, but they never crossed paths until a couple weeks before summer break. “Luckily, I found the courage to ask her out on a date the day after I met her and we went to Rock Bottom in Milwaukee on our first date,” said McGowan. They have been married for almost thirteen years. They have three children and a dog named Indy.

Danielle and Sam Bennett

Danielle Bennett met her husband Sam at a chili cook-off fundraiser at a park on a beautiful September day.  “I was dressed up in a costume for my booth–which had an MMA theme–so I looked like I had a big black eye and a bloody cut on my cheek,” she said.  “Within minutes we were joking around about what a terrible fighter I was (remember my face!) and finishing each other’s sentences.”

Bennett said it was “just like in the movies, like we’d known each other forever.”  After a month “we both knew we’d found ‘the one.’” Seven years later, on that exact same September day, they were married.