1991

How's this for the proposal of all marriage proposals? (Single men, take note.) Mike Eck (the then-boyfriend of KristinWard) called me up this spring to ask if I was free the weekend of June 26. He wanted me to come to New York for a surprise for Kristin. I told him of course I'd be happy to make the trip, given that Kris is one of my very best friends in the whole wide world. When he offered to pay for the plane ticket, naturally I said, "Book it!" Fearing security leaks (smart man), Mike told me no details of what would go down that weekend until I arrived at LaGuardia Airport. Turns out, as I was informed Friday night, I was going to be part of a giant scavenger hunt through Manhattan.

This is how it all played out: Kristin thought Mike was out of town for the weekend. So, Saturday morning she arranged to go to the Natural History Museum with her mom, who was visiting from New Hampshire. As they were getting ready to leave Kris's apartment for the museum, her mom handed her a videotape, on which Mike had filmed himself explaining what was about to happen. Kristin would be led through the city by various "guides," and she would eventually find a "treasure." Her guides were good friends and family members who were stationed throughout the city at various significant places in the couple's relationship: the bar where they met, the restaurant where they had their first date, etc. Clever clues and presents led Kristin to each place, at which a guide handed her off to the next person.

Ultimately Kristin ended up at the horses and carriages in Central Park, where Mike was waiting in a buggy. After Kristin climbed in and read a scroll containing the account of how they met and fell in love (written very eloquently, by the way) Mike stopped the driver, and he proposed to Kristin under a tree. (No, none of us were priwy to that exact moment.) We all met back at Mike's apartment in Jersey City for lunch and a VERY happy celebration. Needless to say, the proposal knocked Kristin's socks off. And, oh, she did say yes. (We all wondered what would have happened if Mike had pulled out all the stops for this very elaborate, public proposal and Kristin declined. Scary.) They plan to get married next summer. Mike works for Bloomberg Financial Services, and Kristin is an editor at The Rosen Publishing Group in New York. In other wedding news, Tracy Kavanaugh got engaged this spring to Rob Walsh '88. They'll be married next May in Hanover. Tracy just finished her master's degree in higher education administration. Kim Goodman wed Scott in August in Hanover. The pair met while they were in the Peace Corps and living in Gabon. (Anyone know where that is?) Victoria Hall was married in August to Justin Gmelich (Villanova '90). She's a portfolio manager at a hedge fund called the Clinton Group; he trades mortgages at Goldman Sachs. They just bought a house in Rumson, N.J. Peter Jurgeleit recently graduated from the Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington. He devoted much of his time in his final year to his responsibilities as editor-in-chief of the Indiana Law Journal. He's now working for Katten, Muchin & Zavis in Chicago.

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Catcher Brad Ausmus '91, p. 59