Connect How did your love story begin?

Wess and I met in October of our 8th grade year (1966) when we both transferred from other schools. Wess says, “I was smitten, she was not impressed”. However, we began dating in our senior year when I asked him to be my escort for May Fete, a local graduation tradition. We were married one year after graduation. With birthdays three days apart we have basically grown up together and never been apart for more than 8 days. We are best friends and partners in our portrait studio business.

What is your favorite memory you've shared as a couple?

We celebrated our 50th anniversary by renting a beautiful Victorian house in Manitou Springs, Colorado, and brought along our three daughters, their husbands and our three grandchildren to revisit the places we went on our first trip as a couple in 1971. There had been many trips there over the years as our family grew and it was wonderful making new memories with the whole crew,

What would you do with $20,000?

Being small business owners in the third smallest metropolitan area in the U.S., and sending three children through college didn’t allow us the luxury of traveling abroad. Since we were both a part of Beatlemania from its very beginning, we’ve always wanted to visit the United Kingdom and visit the places we’ve heard about for decades.
 We also have Scottish and Irish heritage and it would be meaningful to visit the places our ancestors lived. $20,000 could make that a reality for us.