EL CAJON — As part of the year-long 50th anniversary celebration, Grossmont Community College is hosting a special Sweethearts Desert reception on Feb. 10. These sweethearts are couples who have met at the college and later married.
A dozen couples have already confirmed that they would be there. Some of them share their stories in this newspaper.
Chris Lee said that she met her future husband, Randy, during their first semester at the college in 1975. They met in a beginning volleyball class with Coach Gillespie.
EL CAJON — As part of the year-long 50th anniversary celebration, Grossmont Community College is hosting a special Sweethearts Desert reception on Feb. 10. These sweethearts are couples who have met at the college and later married.
A dozen couples have already confirmed that they would be there. Some of them share their stories in this newspaper.
Chris Lee said that she met her future husband, Randy, during their first semester at the college in 1975. They met in a beginning volleyball class with Coach Gillespie.
“Shortly after that we began dating,” she said. “My husband played on many intramural volleyball teams and I was a cheerleader. We have many fond memories of our times at Grossmont.”
The Lees have been married 30 years now and have three children. Their son is now attending Grossmont.
“You never know, he may meet his future wife, there, too,” Lee said.
Another couple met in a volleyball class. Suzanne Bailey said that she met her future husband, Chuck, in April of 1984. They married four years later and seem very happy.
“We had the opportunity to go back into the gymnasium when our niece was playing volleyball there a few years back,” Suzanne said. “And my husband stood in the same spot in the door way and I stood in the same spot on the court where we had first seen each other.
“We had to squint now but it was very cool and very special,” she said.
P.E. classes seem to be a great place to met future spouses, as the Hopwoods did. They met at a bowling class in 1987. They began dating and married two years later.
“We have been married 22 years now,” Bill Hopwood said. “We have three kids, one of which also attended Grossmont until transferring to FIDM.”
Bill Flint met his future wife at a typing class in 1977. They both went on to graduate from Grossmont.
“We are currently still married and typing,” Bill Flint said.
The Flints live right next door to Grossmont College, near his former business Calculus professor.
In 1981, Jennifer Jaeger came across Delmont McClain in several Grossmont classes, including economics. They found they had mutual friends from both of their high schools and began dating in 1982. Three years later, they married. They now have three daughters.
Another portrait of true love is summed up in Tomie Orosz’s story. She had met Michael Orosz in Marshall Beach’s anthropology class in 1981. They were married in 1987.
“We raised two amazing children together, who are now in college themselves, one at Yale and one at University of Denver, and looking for their own loves. We remain in love and happy,” Orosz said.
The reminiscing will wax even sweeter with the chocolate fountain and other fine desserts at the reunion.
This very special private party for Grossmont College sweethearts will take place in the Health and Sciences complex building on the east side of campus.
There will be live entertainment with a musical quartet featuring Steve Baker, Grossmont’s Dean of Arts. The quartet will perform love songs from the past five decades.
“We’ll be accepting couples’ reservations until the last minute,” said Rick Griffin, manager of college and community relations. “It’ll be a nice casual event.”
Call Griffin at 644-7840 to RSVP.
