The University doesn’t offer archery so if you spot a stray arrow when you visit campus, it will undoubtedly belong to Cupid, who seldom misses his mark.
The University doesn’t offer archery so if you spot a stray arrow when you visit campus, it will undoubtedly belong to Cupid who seldom misses his mark. Since February is the month of romance, we asked three married couples who met at URI to share their stories.
Textbook Romance
Paul Lischio ’49 was rushing across the Quadrangle to an engineering class when he bumped into Marguerite Mansolillo ’49. Their collision caused Marguerite’s books to fly. Paul immediately stooped, took out his handkerchief, and carefully wiped off the books before handing them back to her.
Marguerite was impressed. She took the handkerchief back to her room in Roosevelt Hall, washed and ironed it, and took it with her the following week, timing her appearance on the Quad to coincide with Paul’s dash to his class.
The following weekend, Paul’s fraternity, Beta Psi Alpha, sponsored a dance. Marguerite prompted her two roommates to signal her if they were dancing with Paul. They were to bring Paul over to her. “That wasn’t like me,” says Marguerite. “I was so shy.” In fact, her shyness in the past had often made her physically sick.
On their first date, the couple went to dinner. Marguerite felt fine, “so I knew then he was the guy for me.”
Because Paul didn’t own a car, the couple dated on campus, playing ping-pong in the Student Union and holding hands in the Green Hall library. “Once in a while, we’d hitch a ride to Giros,” Paul recalls. They were married in 1950, have two daughters, and now enjoy five grandchildren.
Paul and Marguerite worked for her father’s business, The American Home Builders, before establishing their own business, Heritage Houses, Inc., a real estate development and building company that has constructed more than 700 homes, apartments, and an office park in the state. “We loved our work,” says Marguerite.
“It was fate,” says the bride of 56 years of their meeting and marriage. Paul nods in agreement.
The Bunsen Burn
Greg Whipple ’88 and Kristine Olson ’89 rode an elevator together to a lab in Morrill Hall and became informal lab partners. When he criticized the way she was adjusting a Bunsen burner, Kristine wondered “who is this guy? ” After all, she was a pre-vet student with lots of lab experience.
“My previous partner had burned a hole in the tube, which sent a flame near my face. It made me a little paranoid about lab partners and fire,” explains Greg. Kristine’s hesitancy about Greg evaporated when he helped her after she lost an important lab sample.
The couple married in the URI gardens in 1989, shortly after Greg earned his second bachelor’s degree and Kristine earned her first.
An atheist during his teenage years, Greg searched for meaning while attending URI. He found it in the Bible. He left teaching after a few years to become an evangelist. He and Kristine live in Belize with their three children, Katie, 9, Jonathan, 7, and Samuel, 2.
They rarely argue and work hard to compromise. During their first seven years of marriage, Kristine had several miscarriages. They thought they might never have children. “We realized that we can’t control much of what happens in our lives and developed a trust for each other that carries us through difficult times,” Greg says.
“Because of our faith and trust in God, we had trust in each other almost from the start. Greg’s my best friend in the world,” says Kristine of her mate.
The couple visited their alma mater last summer with Katie. After a Chicago chili dog at Albie’s, for old times' sake they took their daughter to see the elevator where they met.
A Novel Approach
After being introduced by a mutual friend at the URI Library and hanging around with a group for three months, Chamnan “Nan” Khoy ’03 asked Sokhoeun Im ’02 for a date. “I said it as a joke so if she didn’t say yes, I’d just say I was kidding around,” Nan recalls.
Sokhoeun said she would think about it. Fifteen minutes later, Nan asked if she had thought. Her answer was “yes.”
The couple married on July 29, 2005, in a traditional, two-day Cambodian wedding ceremony. In place of the customary horseback ride, Nan led a parade of gift-bearing friends and relatives to the bride’s house from a block away.
Nan’s quick wit and clever punch lines mask his seriousness. His one memory of Cambodia is when the Khmer Rouge came to the house for his father. If he refused to go with them, they said they would execute his family. Nan never saw his father again. His widowed mother emigrated to Providence and raised Nan and his three sisters.
Sokhoeun was born in a Thai refugee camp. Her family emigrated to Providence and eventually bought a house in Cranston.
“As the oldest of three children, I tended to be centered on myself,” admits Sokhoeun, 27, now a coordinator for Family Services of Rhode Island. “I’ve grown so much since I met Nan. He’s taught me patience. He’s very good with his sisters; they just adore him.”
“I guess I have a feminine side,” quips Nan, 29, whose temporary desktop support position for University College has become a full-time job.
“We have a lot in common and believe in traditional values,” continues his wife. “Besides, he lets me run his life.”
“Only because I let her,” adds her husband, flashing a smile.
By Jan Wenzel ’87
Photo By Nora Lewis
