How we met

How we met........geez, neither one of us remembers the exact event, day, location, or time!  ;-)  However, there are some possible explanations. 

Leann came to Montana State in the fall of 1994. Her roommate on fourth floor Hapner Hall was good friend, Wendy Owens. Along with several other girls from the floor, a couple male additions from Langford Hall, and especially some friends from FFA and 4-H in high school, a gang was formed. That group included Jon’s cousin Brad. 

Jon stayed with Brad during High School Days and was introduced to several of the group at that time. When he came to MSU in the fall of ’95, he was already among the widening circle of friends. It is possible we met during Jon’s introduction to MSU and quite probably during Jon’s first semester of college.

We shared some group outings that were always loads of fun. After an evening basketball game, we did go to see the movie “Good Will Hunting” along with Wendy.  This event inspired Jon to send Leann a card asking if she would like to share some caramels with him (like the line in the movie). Leann declined with a lame excuse.  Too busy, she said. As a secret admirer, Jon later sent Leann a rose for Valentine’s Day.

During Leann’s senior year, she invited Jon to the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority’s spring formal. We danced up a storm and had a great time. Even with an embarrassing broken pants zipper, Jon commented that he skipped down the house steps after dropping Leann off.

And so, after graduation, Jon got a job in Bozeman and Leann went off to teach. Over the next several years, we kept in brief touch as friends. Leann stayed at Jon’s house a couple times when in Bozeman for different events.

Finally, Leann decided to come back to MSU to work on a Master’s degree. Jon was the only person she knew in the area.  Leann, a football fan, invited Jon, a non-football fan, to watch the Super Bowl with her. We ended up going to the Black Angus for supper, football, ads, and a lot of catching up talking. In fact, we were talking so much and having such a good time that we missed the live version of Janet Jackson’s infamous wardrobe malfunction. Later that spring, Leann was having computer issues and asked Jon for help. He got a spaghetti supper in return. Jon’s trip to Italy and his hectic work on their company’s big Chase Manhattan Bank sign project kept him out of contact for a couple more months.

Then, in the beginning of May, after finals, we agreed to go out to dinner for Leann’s birthday and so Leann could hear about Jon’s excursion to Italy. We ate at Azteca and then went to Leann’s house for dessert (delicious peach crisp from the branding meal). We talked for several more hours over dessert, covering all kinds of subjects, including Italy and traveling. 

Meanwhile, Leann’s friend and mentor Terry Wolfe was independently encouraging each of us to do things together, especially for Jon to bring Leann to a dance.  Jon finally had the opportunity and asked Leann to the Spring Ball. He showed up at Leann’s door with a beautiful spring bouquet of flowers (which lasted for at least a month afterwards), and as the first “official” date, we nicknamed it “Terry’s Proof”. Jon had been taking dance lessons for four years and was part of the Foxtrot demonstration performed during the Ball. Leann was a newbie to ballroom dancing, but Jon led her around the floor politely, in between dance requests from just about every woman there. It was a wonderful evening and the start of a budding romance.

The following week, Leann got up the nerve to ask Jon to come home with her to get the rest of her stuff. Of course, the pickup was needed.  ;-)  It was a great weekend and the date of THE first kiss. And the rest is history.