Did you meet your spouse or partner as a student, or perhaps later at a CMC reunion, or via another chance encounter? We want to know the story, sparks and all! Please share your story by emailing pa@cmc.edu.
For inspiration, here are a few CMC love stories.
First impressions fade; love blossoms
Adam Wight ’00 and Sherry DeLauder Wight ‘00
By Sherry DeLauder Wight ‘00
Adam and I met in Lit 20 with John Farrell during our freshman year, way back in the Fall of 1996. Our initial impressions of one another weren't stellar: he thought I looked sickly and I thought he was arrogant and talked too much. But those impressions faded as the months passed (and I definitely talk way more than he does) and we became a couple a year later during a long, late night walk around Claremont. Long story shorter, we're now 18 1/2 years (exactly, on Feb. 17!) into our marriage and have both experienced joys and weathered some incredibly intense storms, including the loss of our oldest son from cancer nine years ago. Will any of our other children go on to have #CMCLove stories to share? You never know... our daughter is 16 and potentially interested in following in our academic footsteps, so we'll just have to see!
From friends to soul mates
Kanika Singh ’17 and Cole Mora ’17
By Cole Mora ’17
Kanika and I met freshman year, although we don’t actually remember how! That summer we kept in touch (via funny, awkward Facebook messages) and by the fall of sophomore year we had built a really solid friendship, hanging out between classes or taking fun trips into L.A. with our friends. Romantically though, it took us some time to find our way to one another. After our graduation I stayed on the West Coast and Kanika moved to Mumbai. Months later when she came to visit friends in L.A., we made plans to get together for dinner as friends (or so we thought). Next thing we knew, after even more months of planning and staying in touch from across the world, I was on a flight to Mumbai to visit her, and we’ve been doing life together ever since!
A chance meeting
April Weathers ’12 and Milan Reed ’11
They first met when April was a new student attending the Pitzer Luau, an orientation event. As a sophomore sponsor, Milan was also there, recruiting first-year students to join the Office of Black Student Affairs (OBSA).
“At the time Milan was strictly business,” April said, admitting that she thought he was “just a tall, handsome guy.”
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Love and basketball
Frank Ferguson ’82 P’17 and Nohemi Gutierrez Ferguson ’82 P’17
Frank Ferguson and Nohemi Gutierrez met on their first day at CMC.
“Our RAs had told us to introduce ourselves because we would get very busy in the year and wouldn’t have time to meet people,” Nohemi recalled. “We were sitting in front of Collins for the CMC Convocation ceremony, and I noticed this guy was staring at me, so I said, ‘Hi, my name is Nohemi.’”
“She totally caught me staring,” Frank said, recalling that when he shared that his name was Frank, Nohemi replied: “Oh, my boyfriend is named Frank, too.”
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Love at first sight
Harmony Palmer ’13 and Jen Ringoen ’12
Harmony Palmer ’13 vividly remembers the first time she laid eyes on Jen Ringoen ’12.
“I was coming out of Collins Dining Hall from lunch and saw Jen across Parents Field walking backwards while leading a tour group,” Harmony said. “I was taken aback by her confidence and charisma.”
The attraction became mutual when Harmony, a first-year student on the softball team, and Jen, a sophomore on the basketball team, attended a bowling competition between the two teams organized by Katie Schlein ’10.
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How I met my husband of almost 63 years
Jil Stark ’58 GP’11 and Jack Stark ’57 GP’11
By Jil Stark
I arrived at Scripps College on a Saturday in the Fall of 1954. I traveled from China, where I was born. I was just 17 years old, wearing my school uniform, socks, and loafers. My trunk had been mislaid, so the next day I still had on the same clothes I had worn for two days while traveling. On Sunday, all the other nicely attired freshmen from Scripps were ready to be taken to College Church by the freshmen from Claremont Men's College. They were led by the CMC sophomore class president, a cute guy with very short hair. (All the "fresh men" had no hair, a tradition in the ‘50s where the new students' hair was cut so they all looked like U.S. Marines.) There I was, small, lots of freckles, with thick brown curly hair, standing with a group of blond, taller, tanned California smiling Scrippsies. "OK, men, pick a girl!" (Even then I frowned at "men pick a girl”), the cute guy said, as he chose the nicest-looking person in the crowd. I was the ONLY one left standing alone. The cute sophomore class president said, "You can come with us." I did. (Later, the cute guy said he didn't remember that this even happened.) Four years later, the day after I graduated, that cute guy, who had joined the Marines, went AWOL from where he was stationed in Virginia, flew across America and arrived in Claremont in his dress whites just in time to marry me, his 20-year-old bride. "I was more afraid of you than the Marine Corps," he whispered in my ear! The rest is history!