February 13, 2026
Paige Haehlke
Where Foresters found each other: Stories of love and lifelong friendship
To celebrate Valentine’s Day, Lake Forest College alumni share stories of the relationships that began on campus and continue to shape their lives. From chance meetings to lifelong bonds, love—in all its forms—takes root in the Forest.
A gorgeous engagement at Glen Rowan House
Georgia Tsakos ’24 and Demetri Maglaras ’23
We met through the most 21st century way possible: Instagram. As we bonded through both of us attending Lake Forest College, being of Greek descent, and the creation of the Hellenic Student Association (HSA), we both started to grow in our relationship. Fast forward four years, and we both graduated with high honors from the College and entered adulthood together. As time went on spending incredible moments with one another, we both quickly realized that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together.
While exploring all the beautiful options and locations that can serve as a proposal setting, Lake Forest College was the obvious choice. With Director of Alumni Engagement Michelle Mittelman’s immense help, Glen Rowan House served as the location of our engagement on December 27, 2025. We will never forget the memories that Lake Forest gave us, in school and out, and we are so grateful for the magic of the College for bringing us together!
—Demetri Maglaras ’23
It all started in the Caf
Dylan Sperry ’16 and Travis Gibbs ’16
We both transferred to Lake Forest in the fall of 2013 but did not meet until the next year in the dining hall. We started dating a couple of months later and have been together ever since.
We were supposed to get married at Lily Reid Holt Memorial Chapel/the Glen Rowan House in 2020 to honor the place we met, but that wedding had to be canceled due to the pandemic. We ended up getting married in an intimate backyard wedding in July 2020 with close family and our dogs, followed by a larger wedding celebration the following year.
—Dylan Sperry ’16
From roommates to lifelong friends
Fred Broda ’68, Mike Maiman ’70, and Andy Russo ’70
I met Fred Broda my freshman year after hearing tales of his basketball exploits from my older brother Richard Maiman ’67. I met Andy Russo when he transferred in as a sophomore and joined the Forester basketball team. Fred and I shared a townhouse in Deerfield my junior year after he graduated, and I lived in a Market Square apartment with Andy my senior year. After graduation, I went into the Marines and Andy and Fred began their very successful careers.
Almost 60 years later, we have maintained a beautiful friendship that has included 40 years of vacationing together and, many family weddings, funerals, and vacations together. I treasure the lasting lifelong relationships with the friends who knew me when I was 18 and we were learning about life together at the College. I still see five to ten of my other Forester friends every year or two (lots of golf with Dr. Jay Chrisman ’70) and am so proud of the evolution of our College into a leading institution in academics, athletics, and social mobility.
—Mike Maiman ’70
She said "yes" in Greece
Kyra Vidas ’18 and Leo Canales ’18
We’re two handball teammates who got engaged after six years together, in the most beautiful place in the world: Santorini, Greece! We both live in Phoenix, Arizona and are chasing our dreams. I could go on and on!
—Kyra Vidas ’18
A meet-cute in Roberts Hall
Cammie Munson ’15 and Dariusz Baliczek ’16
Our story begins like so many others, at a college room dorm party. Even though Lake Forest is a small school where everyone knows everyone, we officially “met” at a birthday party for Mallory Carroll ’15 that was thrown by Sean Chapman ’16 (also a now married Lake Forest College couple!) and his roommates in their Roberts dorm room. I was a friend of Mallory’s, and Dariusz was a friend of Sean’s. We immediately connected on our love of skiing, cooking, and Polish heritage.
We dated through college, adopted our cat Mishu, and moved to San Francisco where I grew up and dated for an additional eight years before Dariusz asked me if I would marry him on the beach in Lake Tahoe. We got married (also in Tahoe!) the next year in 2024. We’ve been together for going on 12 years now and still connect on the same things we did back in that Roberts dorm room.
—Cammie Munson ’15
Friendship from thousands of miles apart
Jeffrey Tylden Darbee ’70 P'11 and Eugene Elisha Harmon III ’71
I had been at the College a year when Gene arrived on campus in the fall of 1967. One of his roommates knew that Gene and I both were railfans and made sure to introduce us. This led to tens of thousands of miles on trains of all kinds as far away as Thailand and as close as Chicago. Gene and I have had great experiences together and have written books and magazine articles about trains of all kinds.
We have lived 2,500 miles apart for almost 50 years, but that distance does not matter. It still feels like we are right next door to each other. For part of our time at the College, we traveled with fellow fan Jim Petrequin ’72. He is on the left in the photo, then Gene, and then me. We stay in regular contact with Jim today.
—Jeffrey Tylden Darbee ’70
A full-circle love story
Jill Lew ’22 and Paul Lew ’21
When I was a freshman at Lake Forest College, I was part of the First Connection program, which helped me get familiar with the College and the Illinois/Chicago area. Paul was a first-time Resident Assistant (RA) during his sophomore year and had lived in Illinois his whole life. We were introduced through a mutual friend and first met at the red tables on Middle Campus with a larger group of friends. As the night went on, the group slowly thinned out, and Paul and I stayed behind, talking for hours. He helped me learn about local restaurants, where to shop, and all the different places to explore in Chicago. As the year went on, we started spending more time together, and our great friendship blossomed into a beautiful, more meaningful relationship.
In 2023, after a road trip to the Wisconsin Dells, Paul surprised me by taking me back to Middle Campus where we first met. He walked me along my usual path to North Campus, where we spent much of our time since we were both RAs at Lois, and created a new College memory by proposing in front of the Durand Art Institute. Since then, we’ve accomplished so much together, most recently buying our first home, and we can’t wait to see what other exciting adventures and challenges the future holds for us!
—Jill Lew ’22
"I turned and saw you shining"
Susan Rush Hoffman ’69 and Meredith Shannon Johns ’71
It was Saturday, April 26, 1969. After lunch I stopped by my mailbox on my way to the library. There was a letter from Italy. I had recently returned from my winter semester in Florence. The letter was from my Italian boyfriend asking me to marry him! I was shocked, and then saddened. After all these years of waiting for the love of my life, the closest I had come was a proposal that I would have to refuse. As I opened the exit door, I remember thinking, "I feel like a puzzle piece looking for its missing matching partner. Will I ever find my soulmate?" I stepped out, and then I saw Meredith coming up the steps in deep conversation with a couple of guys. I can't say that it was love at first sight, but it was certainly recognition at first sight. In fact, it hit me like a thunderbolt! But I walked on by. I assumed he was a guest on campus, so I'd probably never see him again. Besides, why would someone so “cool” take an interest in me?
The next day I was in Pierson Lounge, sitting in one of the large windowsills, procrastinating. I was just about to go write my paper, when he walked in. I decided to wait and see. He looked around the room, our eyes met, and he came right over. He introduced himself as a poet and musician. We talked for several hours. He played me some beautiful songs on his guitar. Monday morning, I was at the cafeteria in line for breakfast. Someone came up behind me and put a folded notebook paper on my tray. It was a poem written in vermillion green ink; it began, "I turned and saw you shining, you were shining in my mind..."
About a week after our first date, Meredith presented me with a raw uncut diamond that some children had found in a stream in Africa and had given to his grandmother. We were married on June 20, 1970, at dawn under the giant oak tree in my parent's woods in a circle of family and friends.
I lost Meredith on June 10, 2023, 10 days before our 53rd anniversary. You can find his obit at baker-swan.com.
—Susan Rush Hoffman ’69
From swimming teammates to teammates in life
Kara Esicar-Viorel ’00 and Lake Forest College Swimming Alumni and Friends, 1996-2001
What began between 1996 and 2000 as a group of Lake Forest College swimmers—early‑morning practices, long bus rides, chlorine‑soaked jokes, and the kind of exhaustion only teammates understand—quietly grew into something far bigger.
Some friendships fade after college. Ours didn’t. Instead, it stretched across states, careers, marriages, kids, heartbreaks, victories, and all the unpredictable turns of adulthood. What held us together wasn’t just the sport. It was the shared grit, the trust built in the lanes, and the unspoken understanding that comes from pushing through hard things side by side.
Over the years, that bond evolved into a long‑term, coast‑to‑coast support system—one that still shows up every week. We check in. We laugh. We vent. We celebrate each other’s wins and steady each other through the lows.
It’s rare to have a group of friends who stay connected this consistently, this intentionally, and this wholeheartedly. But we built that foundation decades ago—stroke by stroke, practice by practice—and it’s still carrying on. A friendship that started in the pool has become a lifelong team.
—Kara Esicar-Viorel ’00
Sixteen Secret Santas
Jen Sojka ’13 and Eileen Newcomer ’13
These girls mean the world to me. We all met freshman year and have been together ever since. Now we live in four different time zones but still keep in regular contact through our group chat, going on trips together, and a bunch of well-spaced weddings. We are even on our 16th year of our annual Secret Santa gift exchange.
—Jen Sojka ’13
A love that's blinding
Nancy Wilber ’68 and Dave Wilber ’68
Dave: She picketed my Saturday radio show—outdoors, in the snow, in January!
Nancy: His show was unfair to freshmen women. Someone had to take action.
Dave: This crazy woman and her girlfriend were freezing out there. I invited them in to warm up.
Nancy: Bah! He was afraid people would see us out there with our signs and wanted to get us out of sight.
Bizarre as it seems, that’s how we met. In 1965, WLFC broadcast from a small white building on South Campus, in front of Moore Hall. Nancy came along with her friend, who was really the one who wanted to meet this “cute guy.” After the show, we went to lunch, and two days later I asked her out (Nancy, not her friend).
We dated through most of the rest of freshman year, trying to one-up each other. “He told me he’d have to break up with every girl he dated when they started falling in love with him. I said, ‘Good luck with that.’”
By the following December we were back together. We enjoyed singing and reunited at the College’s carol sing. We were also back to the one-upmanship, like the time she challenged me to leg wrestle in the TKE lounge. With my fraternity brothers looking on, she went on the count of two rather than three and flipped me like a French fry.
We started to do a lot of things together, when we had time. We both worked in town, but still didn’t have much money. Fortunately, back then dinner and a movie in Chicago, including the train tickets, cost about 10 dollars!
By the time we graduated, we knew pretty much everything about one another. We decided to get married, despite her mother offering to pay for graduate school if she didn’t marry me. Nancy, blinded by love, refused. Now, 61 years after we first met, it still seems like a good decision. And, we are still singing together.
—Dave Wilber ’68