Wilkes Sweetheart Stories 2016
Each February, we feature the stories of Wilkes Colonel couples who lived here, laughed here and loved here. This year, we chose a couple to feature in the email banner for the Alumni E-Newsletter, our Facebook cover photo and our alumni website homepage. Congratulations to Chris Hopkins '11 & Lindsay Berhenshausen Hopkins '11, who won our contest! Thank you to all of our fabulous Wilkes Sweetheart Story submissions.
Jeff Balmer ’85 & Helen Kowalski Balmer ’84 
Helen & I met working at the Eugene S. Farley Library. Our first date was October 29, 1982 at the Halloween dance in the gym. She put a Halloween card on my 1971 Dodge Charger SuperBee inviting me to the dance. I asked her how she knew it was my car. She just laughed - it was painted butterscotch with black stripes & it was the loudest thing for miles around. After she graduated, Helen worked for Wilkes as assistant dean/transfer coordinator. We married on May 17, 1986 and moved to South Florida, where we currently reside. We've raised 3 children – Kelsey, 23 and our twins, Hayely and Greg, 18.
Michael Ferriero ’07 & Georgina Robinson Ferriero ’08 
In 2006, Georgina and I first met when some of my friends and I went to her apartment to hang out with her and her friends. Georgina knew all of my friends but did not know me. That all changed when later that night, she started throwing rolls of toilet paper at me for no reason. I believe they were the rolls we just brought over from Evans Hall. We started talking that night and never stopped. I graduated in 2007 and for a year, commuted to see her at college since she still had another year. After she graduated in 2008, we moved in together in New Jersey so she could attend Seton Hall University to get her Masters in Physician Assistant. We lived together for three years until she graduated in 2011. While living together in New Jersey, Georgina was home with the flu and I took that opportunity to propose to her. She was feeling weak and I knew she couldn't run away or say no. After graduation, Georgina got a job close to where she grew up in Pennsylvania, so we moved there. We were married on June 30, 2012 and were surrounded by many of our friends from Wilkes. We are going on our 4th year of marriage. In total, we have been together for 10 years. Currently, Georgina works as a Gastroenterology Physician Assistant and I am a teacher at a home for abused boys, as well as the Head Football Coach for Lewisburg Area High School. We currently reside in Kreamer, PA and are expecting our first child on May 30, 2016.
Bob Gardner ’67, MS ’73 & Judy Gardner ’71, MS ’75
Although Bob and I didn't know each other as Wilkes undergrads or grad students, we did eventually end up teaching at Northwest Area School District. Soon we began to team teach a humanities course; I taught the English literature content and Bob taught the history. Soon, we learned of our common background--Wilkes! Without our beloved alma mater, we may never have become teachers and may never have met and eventually married. After we began dating, Dr. Lynch asked us to teach graduate courses at Wilkes, and, of course, we agreed. Soon after, we married. When we retired from Northwest, Dr. Polachek asked us to teach some undergrad courses, and we agreed once again. At Wilkes we've shared an office in the education department and have team taught some of the education courses. And yes, we're still married after more than 20 years. We credit Wilkes with starting us on the path to eventually meeting and getting together and keeping us together as we continued our work in education. Without our Wilkes experiences, we wouldn't have such a special sweetheart story to tell!
Chris Hopkins ’11 & Lindsay Behrenshausen Hopkins ’11 
Christopher and Lindsay met in the fall of 2008 during their sophomore year at Wilkes. As two communication studies majors, the two had many classes together and first met while working on a group project together. They remained simply friends until their senior year when they began to spend more time together. As a sports reporter for The Beacon, Chris covered the softball team on which Lindsay was a pitcher and she began to notice a familiar face in the stands at her home games. Chris and Lindsay decided to make their relationship official - exactly two days before graduation in May 2011. Almost a year later Chris moved from his native New Jersey to Lindsay's hometown in Central Pennsylvania. Chris proposed on December 21, 2012 and on September 20, 2014 the two were married in a special ceremony that celebrated their love story and the place it all began - Wilkes University! The couple often reminisces about all the great memories they had during their four years on campus and Wilkes will forever hold a special place in Chris and Lindsay's hearts.
John Leedock Jr. ’02, MBA ’05 & Melissa Leedock PharmD. ’05 
John and I met in the fall of 1999, when I started my freshman year at Wilkes. We both lived in what was then called Barre Hall. I was sitting in the lounge writing in my journal the night before classes started, and after our first Hall meeting. John walked past me, and asked if I was doing homework already. I know it's corny, but I knew in that moment that we were going to get married someday. We started out as friends, and had groups of mutual friends. The next year we were in the same physics class together. I found out later that the class wasn't required for John's major, and that he had taken it as an elective and rearranged his class schedule to be in the same physics lab as me, so that he could spend more time with me. The night before the first exam he called and asked if I wanted to study. That night ended up being our first date, and I think we even ended up scoring pretty well on the exam! During our time at Wilkes, we went to many campus-sponsored events together - dances, concerts, comedians, and we often took advantage of $2 movie nights at Cinemark (our favorite)! This February will be the 15th anniversary of when we started dating, and in July we will celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary. While we each could have chosen to attend different colleges, John and I believe that our choice of Wilkes was fate.
Matthew Miller ’11 & Valentina Beneski Miller ’11 
Matthew and I met during our freshman year while enrolled in the Wilkes engineering program. He was a mechanical engineering major and I was an environmental engineering major. We were fast friends and spent a lot of time hanging out in the Henry Student Center, relaxing at my Waller North dorm, and studying in the Farley Library. Our sophomore year our friendship turned to romance and we dated our remaining years at Wilkes. We both graduated in 2011 and moved to Delaware County, Pa. Matt took his first engineering job and I continued on for my Master's degree at University of Delaware. He proposed at our favorite park the next year with the assistance of our Weimaraner, Zeppelin. After my graduation, we moved to Bucks County for new jobs and a year of wedding planning. In September 2014, we were married with fellow Wilkes alumni, Russell Dehaut ’11 , EmmaLee Vecere ’11, and best man Shawn Klitsch ’11 at our sides. We currently live with our dog in Warrington, Pa. Wilkes holds countless memories for us and will always have a special place in our hearts.
Rob Noone ’09 & Kaley Opshinsky Noone ’08
We are from the same city and did not meet until attending Wilkes. We have been married 2 years and have a son Brayden.
Michael Pasquariello ’10, MS '16 & Ashley Filipek Pasquariello ’10
Michael and I met when we were paired as lab partners in Dr. Redmond's EES 105 class during our first year at Wilkes. We stayed together throughout our four years at Wilkes finishing the teaching program together and graduating in 2010. A few years later, Michael took me back to Wilkes to celebrate our five year anniversary and proposed to me in the very classroom where we met. Michael said it best in his wedding vows; EES 105 was a class that had nothing to do with our majors, but was the only class that truly changed our lives. This Valentine's Day, we'll be celebrating very differently. Our son, Joseph James Pasquariello, was born on January 14, 2016. Our "date" will be to celebrate one month since the birth of our very own miracle! Thank you Wilkes, for giving me the opportunity to meet the love of my life.
Jared Shayka PharmD ’08 & Reka Shayka MBA ’11 
Reka and Jared met at Wilkes when Reka was getting her MBA and working as a graduate assistant in residence life with Liz Swantek. Jared had gone to Pharmacy school with Liz's at-the-time fiancé Josh and was close friends with both Liz and Josh. So much so, that he was officiating their upcoming wedding, and as Josh was in North Carolina at the time, Jared helped Liz with some wedding planning. Reka and Jared had quick chats whenever Jared would come to Wilkes for a visit, but never really hit it off (he didn't even ask her for a dance at Liz and Josh's wedding)! Then a few months later, when Reka went home to Budapest for the holidays, Jared finally asked her out! They had their first date on January 8, 2011 and have been together ever since. After several years of long distance love between Scranton and Elizabethtown (where Reka got a job after grad school), Jared proposed in New York City on top of the Empire State Building on April 5, 2014. Reka and Jared had a civil ceremony on July 9, 2014 and celebrated again with a church ceremony surrounded by their friends and close family on July 9, 2015. They now finally share a home in Northeastern Pennsylvania with their two pups.
Bob Spinelli ’76 & Patty Spinelli ’77
With the encouragement from the women of Ross Hall, Bob and I met in Anne Zini's dorm room in my freshman year. For the next few weeks, our paths crossed until stitches in my foot forced me to stay put, and much to everyone’s surprise, we were dating. Our relationship was probably the least likely, as they say, opposites attract. His grades suffered and my grades improved. We dated throughout our college career, serving on many committees, student government and other social activities. Forty plus years later, three kids and 3 grandchildren we’re still together and enjoying retirement. We're happy to reconnect with the Wilkes community every year and the A-List during Homecoming. Many Wilkes marriages are still going strong.
Peter Steve ’81 & Judy Barnick Steve ’81 
Judy and I first met in Biology class and then as fate would have it, we worked together at the Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce. One thing leads to another and we eventually got married in October of 1984. Today, we own and operate Ideaworks Marketing, an award-winning, woman-owned marketing agency. We live in Dallas, PA and have two sons, Peter III and Tyler.
Lee Thomas ’80 & Cindy Fisher Thomas ’79 
Cindy and I officially met in fall of 1976 during a local production of 'Amahl & the Night Visitors' at First Presbyterian Church. She was in an arm cast from a recent fall and I was wearing in my high school varsity jacket, sucking it in. (I actually 'lettered' in academics, but she didn't know that.) After that there were 'parallel play' times around and about the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center, mostly due to the (un)natural confluence of the music (her) & theatre (me) departments. We 'met met' (glints in the eye, coy smiles) during the 1977 Wilkes production of 'Twelfth Night', in which she played Viola - the main character, not the stringed instrument (that came later) - and I played Antonio. We had time offstage prior to an entrance, chatted each other up, and went to a party together where we sat and poked fun at other people hitting on each other, observing, categorizing, and rating their 'approach' and 'technique'. Following the party, we walked back to her dorm and sat in the back stairway discussing philosophy, religion, professors - anything that would keep the night from ending. It was dawn before we knew it, so we bid adieu with a quick kiss (at least, I think we kissed). After that we sat together at rehearsal, then met for meals in Freddie's "Very Tasty" cafeteria, then quiet walks in the snow, co-mingling with each other's friends - hey, we were a COUPLE! We continued dating through and after college, found New Jersey job opportunities that put us in closer proximity, and won several 'cutest couple' awards over the next few years (I may be misremembering that part). In fall of 1982, we were driving to visit her sister at Bucknell, but on the way to Lewisburg took a detour to the WB, walked around campus, snuck into Darte, sat in the same row we had claimed as ours during Twelfth Night, and got engaged. The End. No, no, the beginning! We got married in June 1983, had a son, Craig Lee, in 1986, moved back to Wilkes-Barre in 1987, reconnected with the local music and theatre communities, had a daughter, Emily, in 1990, and here we are, still winning 'cutest couple' awards almost 40 years after our initial meeting.
