February 21, 2025
Paige Haehlke
Foresters in love: Alumni share stories of finding "the one” on campus
In honor of Valentine’s Day, we asked our alumni to share their Lake Forest College love stories. From meet-cutes during classes and at parties to the admissions office and a hockey locker room, these stories span decades and capture the moments when sparks flew and lasting love began.
Keith Napier ’85 and Mary Worland Napier ’84
When the admissions office asked my suite mate if he wanted to do his work study in their office for his sophomore year, he turned them down (he already had a great job in the hockey rink) but gave them my name instead. I was working in the cafeteria and would have been happy just about anywhere else.
I met Mary my first day of work study in the fall of 1982, and we have been part of each other's lives ever since!
- Keith Napier ’85
Steve Kornbluth ’70 and Carol Gries Kornbluth ’71
I met Carol after winter break in January 1970. The world was on fire at the time: massive protests against the Vietnam War, the draft lottery, political protests, and the summer of love and Woodstock (which I attended!). When I returned to school in January, my total focus was to graduate and return to New York where I was born and raised and loved. For reasons I will never understand, I enrolled in Twentieth Century Art with Franz Schulz. As luck would have it, I had the good fortune to be seated next to Carol. I had seen her many times over the past three years at Lake Forest but had never spoken to her because we traveled in very different circles.
As the lecture started, all I could think about was how beautiful this woman next to me was. We were given an assignment to visit an art gallery in Chicago to view an exhibit, and I don’t know how I mustered the courage to ask Carol to go with me. I was shocked that she accepted. As we wandered through the exhibit, my total focus was on her. On our way back to campus, we stopped at Leo’s Deli in Highland Park, where she had matzoh ball soup for the first time. Two weeks later, I took Carol out to celebrate her 21st birthday. As I stared into her eyes that evening, I truly realized what a beautiful person she was. Little did I know that she was the person I would marry! She came to New York in 1971 after she graduated, and we were married the following year.
We will be celebrating our 53rd anniversary next month and have two sons and four grandchildren. Our love for each other has never been stronger. Who would have thought that a date in 1970 would have been the beginning of a life full of love and happiness?
- Steve Kornbluth ’70
Blaine Horner ’11 and Katie McLain Horner ’11
Blaine and I sat next to each other in a creative writing class junior year and even critiqued each other’s short stories, but we never spoke to each other outside of class until after graduation when our best friends started dating.
Texting led to a coffee date, which led to an official dinner date, and we’ve been together for over 13 years and married for six and a half! We even took our engagement photos on campus at Lake Forest College where it all began.
- Katie McLain Horner '11
Peyton Schrag ’17 and Evelyn Bello-Schrag ’17
The day that Peyton walked into the course Spain Today was the day I knew that one day I would be marrying him. Throughout our years in the Forest, Peyton and I became very good friends through various clubs and organizations, including co-leading InterVarsity. For years, Peyton was oblivious to the love that existed in his heart for me until one day, staring into a starry night at Lake Forest Beach, it became clear that he would end up marrying me.
We have now been married for six years (going on seven in May) and have two beautiful babies whose first language is Spanish. Who would have known that a spark of love that began in a Spanish course would be a catalyst to build a home where Spanish is always spoken, and most importantly, where love lives indeed. ¡Que viva el amor!
- Evelyn Bello-Schrag ’17
Brett Sanidas ’88 and Susie Studley Sanidas ’87
I met Susie in October of my freshman year in 1984. We met at a party—she had a friend visiting whose younger sister and I went to high school together. As my friend and I started talking, she introduced me to Susie. Susie gave me her number later that evening, and I called her the next day. We were both from Massachusetts and figured out that I had played hockey against her brother a number of times. She told me she never thought I would call her.
I am certainly glad I did—we have been together ever since. Our daughter attended Lake Forest her freshman year and played for the women's hockey team. We really enjoyed it because we got back to campus often to watch our daughter play.
- Brett Sanidas ’88
Bobby Alderman ’09 and Amy Stout Alderman ’09
After working out in the sports center one day, Bobby went next door to the skating rink to shower in the hockey locker room where he had a stall with his things. I figure skated competitively through high school and often skated in the afternoons when I could have the rink almost to myself. When walking into the rink that afternoon, I passed the men’s locker room where the door was open, and a naked man was changing. I quickly ran away to put on my skates, and we never talked about it.
A few months later, my best friend introduced me to Bobby when we were visiting his roommate, and we started talking. We didn’t realize our initial connection until I told him a story about the “naked hockey player” a few months into dating. Eighteen years later (12 of them married), and we still laugh about it. We currently live in Houston with our daughter Tennyson, 7, who also skates.
- Amy Stout Alderman ’09
Paul Miller ’12 and Emily Schwarz Miller ’14
Emily and I met in the fall of my senior year. After a few intramural basketball games and some all-campus parties, we fell for each other fast! We got engaged on the Lake Forest beach and were married at the Lily Reid Holt Memorial Chapel in 2015.
- Paul Miller ’12
James Wilhite ’93 and Emily Basil Wilhite ’94
Jim and I met during my senior year of high school. One of my childhood friends was a freshman at Lake Forest College, and his mother was a professor. Jim and I talked on the phone sometimes when I would call my friend. When I went to my college interview, I met Jim in person. He was sitting on a ledge in the smoking lounge of the library and had gorgeous blonde hair and the most amazing blue eyes I had ever seen. I fell head over heels for him the moment I looked in his eyes. We started dating a few months into my freshman year and were inseparable all the way through college; you rarely saw one of us without the other.
Less than a year after I graduated, my father passed away. But before he did, Jim asked for his blessing to marry me. Several months later a friend bet me that we would be engaged by the end of September. In mid-September there was a party in honor of my dad, and Jim took me ring shopping, where we found the perfect ring. On September 30 we had a great day together: we went to the zoo, ate a nice dinner, and we went up to campus to walk around. We were by the Chapel, one of our favorite buildings, and I just knew he was going to propose, but he didn't, and I sat down on the memorial bench near the Chapel, closed my eyes and cried a little. He asked what was wrong and I said I thought he would propose. When I opened my eyes, he was on one knee in front of me and said that he had to wait until I wasn't expecting it.
In 2021 our daughter began her freshman year at Lake Forest. It has been wonderful to have her begin another chapter in our family's story there. This picture was taken in the spot where he proposed just after our 28th wedding anniversary, 34 years after we started dating.
- Emily Basil Wilhite ’94