SPRINGFIELD, Mo., Feb. 10, 2023 — Drury University’s Office of Advancement will hold a special vow renewal celebration this Saturday, Feb. 11 at 10:30 a.m. in Stone Chapel. The celebration will honor the marriages of 24 couples (48 individuals) who met while attending school at Drury. The ceremony will be conducted by Drury Chaplin Peter Browning and will be followed by a reception in the newly opened Judy Thompson Executive Conference Center.
Each of the couples’ love stories is unique and spans decades. But they all have one thing in common – Drury. Here are a few of the couples who will attend Saturday’s celebration:
Tom and Barbara Stevens ’59 met their freshman year at Drury in 1955. They had many of the same classes, but he didn’t know her name.One day Tom asked Barbara if he could look at her notes from Biology, with the hope that she had written her name on the paper – she had. Not too long after that, Tom stopped at a pay telephone and called the dorm to ask for Barbara. After a few minutes, Barbara came to the phone and Tom asked her for a date. They became engaged and married their senior year in Stone Chapel. And now, 63 years later, they will stand in the same church and say “I do” again.
Eric and Gena Thompson ’91 first met at an ice cream social for incoming freshman. Their first date was dinner at Twin Oaks Country Club. A year and a half later– and two days after graduation – that’s where they held their wedding reception. Their story is a tradition in Gena’s family, as her parents also met at Drury and are still married today.
Greg and Tricia DeCamp ’93 weren’t exactly friends during their time at Drury. Greg says Tricia wouldn’t have anything to do with him. They had a couple of classes together and she did buy him a drink on his 21st birthday. After graduation they both joined a group of about 10 other alumni who often met for lunch and drinks. Eventually, the group started to dwindle in numbers and before long, it was just Greg and Tricia. They started doing more and more activities together and a romance sparked. They were married in October 1995.
###
Media Contact: Jasmine Cooper, Director of University Communications and Media Relations – (417) 873-7390 or JCooper020@drury.edu.