14 February 25

On Valentine's Day 1975 (50 years ago, also a Friday), Beth Wollenweber and I sat together in the student lounge at Houghton College (NY). As we cuddled I turned to her and said "I want you to marry me." Her initial response was "What?!" -- but she maintains that she was only trying to make sure she had heard me correctly. She quickly agreed with my "proposal"! And then we called our parents and told them that we were engaged -- and they were not surprised but very, very happy. In our excitement the following day we forgot our duty to monitor the still for triple-distilled water in a chemistry lab, bur the faculty accepted our apology. Around this time we arranged for our senior yearbook photo, where we sat together in a chemistry lab hood reading a "book" we titled "Chemistry Made Simple by W. T. Pooh." Our clothes were fashionable for 1975! We've had a wonderful 50 years since then.