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.
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