Cobber Couples
Stories of Cobber Couples are everywhere. So here are a few sent in by readers of our eNews which featured two Cobber Couples and asked for more stories.
A Star-struck Couple
Submitted by Trina Pisk-Hall ’98
My husband, Jason Hall, and I both grew up in Montana but never knew each other before Cobberville.
Our sophomore year, I was playing in the band for the homecoming show and he was working for sound crew. He saw me from afar in my sparkly dress and told his sister that evening "I have seen the woman I am going to spend the rest of my life with." (When I heard this later, I thought "Yeah right," obviously he is more romantic than I am.)
Little did he know (because he NEVER came to class) that I sat directly in front of him in our astronomy class! He eventually came to class and discovered that I was there. (He never missed a class after that.)
In fact, one day, he was writing a letter to his friend that said, "I really like her, how do I ask her out." The note fell on my shoulder and I handed it back to him!
Our first date was a study session in the library, where we talked all evening about everything BUT astronomy.
We have been together ever since.
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The Magic of 617
Submitted by Leah (Mullan) Thompson '05
My husband, Mark Thompson ’05, and I met the first week of our freshman year during a resident hall orientation event. I lived in Hallet and Mark lived in Erikson. We were on a walk to the Dairy Queen with our sister/brother floor. Mark and I figured out that he lived in 617 Erickson and I lived in 617 Hallet. So having at the very least our dorm rooms in common, a friendship began. We remained friends throughout our time at Concordia discovering many more Cobber connections.
Here goes: (all names mentioned below are Cobber Alumni)
- Mark's Aunt, Jill (Olson) Thompson '94 and her sisters, Lara (Olson) Liepold '92 and Erin Olson '99 all babysat my aunt Glenna Olson's '78 children while living in Worthington, Minn. They are all still great friends.
- Jill Thompson '94 is Mark's aunt by marriage to Paul Thompson '94.
- My Mom, LeAnn (Olson) Mullan '74, teaches down the hall from Jill Thompson's sister, Lara (Olson) Liepold '92, in Hutchinson, MN.
- Mark's aunt Wendy (Hayden) Thompson’87, and I both grew up in Hutchinson, Minn. Our families know each other.
- Wendy (Hayden) Thompson is Mark's aunt by marriage to Steve Thompson '86.
Needless to say, we felt that these Cobber connections were not coincidental. We spent many nights studying for Spanish in the Hallet lounge and as a result became great friends. We started dating shortly before graduation and were married in September 2006.
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A Fantastic Start
Submitted by Roger Livdahl ’56
I met Barbara Smith’56 on our first day of college in 1952, while we were trying out for the Concert Choir. She got in. I didn't (not until my junior year). Since this farm boy didn't dare to ask the big city girl for a date, she asked me on "Sadie Hawkins Day.” The first time I held her hand and put my arm around her was at a skating party at Island Park in Fargo, To propose to her I rented a boat on the Red River and rowed a long way upstream. When I surprised her with a ring I told her that she would have to walk back if she didn't accept it. After accepting the ring she had to row back because my hands were all blistered. We were married shortly after graduation.
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In (over)due Time
Submitted by Leah (Blilie) Johnson ’94
My husband, Kipp Johnson '93, and I met in Dr. Larry Fuell's Comparitive Politics class in 1992. While we talked before and after class, he never did ask me out before the end of the semester, and I was too shy to ask him.
But, the following semester I found myself at the library's ciruculation desk with an armload of books and no library card. I was fighting a terrible cold on top of it. I told the librarian to wait for a moment while I found a kind soul to lend his or her library card to me. (Kids--don't do this! It's illegal!) I turned around and noticed Kipp at a computer by the fishbowl. I asked (begged?) him to let me borrow his card, which he graciously did, and I left the library with my books.
Spring break came while the books were due, and I forgot to return them prior to break. Of course, when he returned from break, he found an overdue notice in his mailbox. He called to check on the status of the books. After a brief conversation, he asked me out. The rest is history. We've been married for over 12 years and have two children.
Several of our best friends are also Cobber couples as are family members on both sides of our family. Not only do we share interests as adults, but memories as students.
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The true love story of
Paul Genter ’70 and Lynn Lundquist Genter ’71
There was a boy from North Dakota who went to Concordia College basically to play football. His coach was Jake Christensen, and it was great to play with such a winning team. When he was a sophomore and the team was on campus during freshman orientation for training camp, he and his teammates enjoyed lining the sidewalks that approached the dining hall. They eyed the freshman girls walking by, doing a little friendly “assessment” of the incoming class. The North Dakota boy raised his eyebrows when a girl from The Cities walked by thinking, “There’s a nice one.”
A few weeks later, his roommate introduced him to a girl he’d just started dating, and it was The Girl from The Cities. Eventually, ND and TC became good friends, meeting at the library to study together and discussing many topics, including issues with their various dates. He had a car, so he often offered rides to the car-less girl and her roommates.
As time went on, this friendship endured. When he was a junior, he and a friend took the girl and her friend for a downtown excursion. Afterward, he and his friend stopped into the apartment for a banana split. As the girl watched the boy put his ice cream dish into the sink, she thought, “Hm. This guy looks good in a kitchen!”
In his senior year, they ended up in the same morning class. They had a break afterward, so they would often go out for a little breakfast together. One day as they were waiting for class to begin, he asked her if she’d like to go to a movie.
The rest, as they say, is history. Thirty – eight years later, they are still best friends … and roommates!
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Not a Dead(end) Romance
Holly (Bohach) Johnson ’96 and her husband, Scott Johnson ’96 met over a dead cat. At least, that’s the story he always tells. They were in the same anatomy/physiology lab and were studying at the same time one weekend for a lab practical. He approached her and asked if he could look at her cat’s muscles. Nothing romantic happened at that point. The next fall, they shared an ecology class and were lab partners. One Friday after class, he offered her a ride home; she chuckled to herself and agreed because he didn’t realize they lived in the same apartment building but on different floors! They married in October of 1997 and recently celebrated their 10th anniversary. Scott and Holly have a daughter, Mackenzie who is 5, and a son, Riley who is 2.
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Submitted by Joni (Wermerskirchen) Bonnell '87
The second semester of my freshman year, (1984), a group of girlfriends and I enrolled in Dr. Lutter’s history class which was held on the 3rd floor of Old Main. The group of girlfriends all sat in the same row with me being the first in line sitting on the center aisle. Well, my future husband, Chris, was also in that class and he sat directly on the other side of the aisle in one of the middle seats. A couple weeks into class, my friend who sat next to me, pointed out that the guy on the other side of the aisle was always staring at her during class. Once she mentioned that, we couldn’t help but look, and sure enough, not only did he stare a little bit, but it was constant! It got to the point where poor Martin Lutter would walk down the center aisle and stand between the rows just to get him out of his little staring trance!
As the semester proceeded, we girls realized he was staring at me! He always ran out of class as soon as it was over as to prevent any type of verbal interaction, so I decided that I would go to Hornbacher’s on a Wednesday cookie day, get a dozen cookies, put them in a well-decorated box, (I was an elementary education major after all), and deliver them to his dorm room via a mutual friend. The cookies were delivered, but much to my dismay, no acknowledgement whatsoever, just more staring. His staring was so obvious now that the group of friends started calling him “starey” and we changed the words of Journey’s song, “Oh, Sherry” to “Oh, Starey”.
Two days before classes end, I get a call from a mutual friend of ours who says she has something for me from “Starey”. It was a beautiful red rose hidden in a paper sack. How discreet! The next day, there were a dozen stamped envelopes in my mailbox that had his address on them. I found out later that they didn’t come from him but rather from his friends to encourage me to write to him.
I decided that I was going to talk to "starey" our last day of class. As I am walking into Old Main for that final, he came bolting out of the doors. He “fibbed” to Dr. Lutter about having to get home for the summer so he took the final early! What a chicken!
We leave campus, but I am not going to give up! I move to Fair Hills Resort where I work for the summer, and we begin writing letters everyday and eventually we talk on the phone. We first spoke to each other in person 6 months after the staring began and we haven’t stopped in all these years. We’ve been married nearly 23 years.
