Continuing campus love stories, Kent State faculty and staff members share how they met their spouses at the university.

Carla Wyckoff, Communications and Events Manager, Division of Human Resources/General Counsel
Met her spouse at Kent State in 1996

I met my husband at Kent State in 1996 when we were both working here. We met through a singles group for Kent State employees that was organized by Diana Allensworth, who was an employee of Regional Campuses at the time. After we met and talked a few times, we discovered that at one point we both worked in the same building, but on different floors and never knew each other then. Coincidentally, when we got married in 1999, our October wedding date happened to fall on Kent State Homecoming day!


Christine K. Isenberg, Director of Advancement (Constituent Programs), College of Communication and Information, and Libraries and Media Services
Met her spouse at Kent State in the mid-1980s

I met Bob Isenberg, ’85, my husband of 25 years at the Schwebel Garden Room in the mid-80s. I was a waitress and a hostess, and he was a cook. At that time, it was open for dinner, and we’d all get off work around 11 p.m. then head straight to Ray’s. After we had been going out as a group for about a year, he left a message with my roommate for me to meet him at the Townhouse (which was located in the old Kent Hotel). So, I showed up in a sweatshirt and my hair in a ponytail thinking that the group was gathering there, and I realized it was only him. I was on a date!! I spent the whole night trying to figure out if I wanted to kiss him or not. Turns out I did. We were married 25 years in October.


Submission Received From Wilbur, ’90, and Lisa, ’91, Biggin, Kent State Alumni
Met at Kent State in 1987

Wilbur and Lisa Biggin, both Kent State alumni, on their
wedding day on Sept. 15, 1991.

It was a beautiful warm fall day in 1987, my sophomore year. My Beall-McDowell Hall roommate, Kim and I had some time between classes so we did a little grocery shopping at the local Kroger. After we made our purchases, we headed back toward campus, making a pit stop at Kim’s boyfriend Steve’s Glen Morris apartment. In the apartment that day was a young man, whom I didn’t know, but he was introduced to me as Wilbur. I didn’t think much of this guy, mostly because it didn’t seem to me that he had the slightest interest in me.

Later the next week, Kim asked me to go to dinner with her and Steve, as we all had the night off from work. Unfortunately, that evening Kim got called in to work by her second employer. She wanted me to go out with Steve and his friend anyway, which didn’t seem odd due to our mutual friendship. So, Steve and his friend picked me up at our dorm on a snowy, sloppy night. I was asked to climb into the rear of the Jeep they were driving and off we went. This Jeep, a 1979 CJ-5 Golden Eagle, was the biggest piece of crap I’d ever laid my eyes on with no rear seats or seatbelts, big holes in the floor, no heat, and so loud you couldn’t have a conversation. The snow and slush were coming through the holes in the floor and splashing all over me. I don’t consider myself high maintenance, but this was a little crazy, even for a country girl from south western New York.

We ended up not going to dinner, but instead to the Townhouse were we could get free eats and drinks. This Wilbur, driver of the Jeep, guy didn’t seem to want to be at the bar let alone converse with any of the very inebriated crowd, so being the kind person I am I hung out with him at the upper bar, which was the quietest place, as Steve made his rounds with his buddies. Steve announced to us that he would be going to another bar, The Hood, with some other friends. I took one look at Wilbur and realized he didn’t want anything to do with that. I volunteered to stay at the Townhouse with him until we finished our drinks and then he would take me back to my dorm and he to wherever it was he would go. At this point I still wasn’t interested, nor he in me. We idly chatted until a slow song came on … and low and behold he asked me to dance. I said, “Sure, why not” and we headed to the dance floor to dance to, “Time of My Life,” and some others.

At the end of the slow songs we decided to leave the Townhouse to go home. After riding in the front seat of the Jeep and hearing a few stories about four wheeling, I asked if I could drive and he flatly said “No!” I was a little unnerved by this guy who seemed to not be interested in me. Was he or wasn’t he interested?

The next day, my roommate Kim asked me how the “date” went. I was little puzzled by her question, and asked her what she meant. She said the whole thing had been a set up by her and Steve. I told her the story of the evening and she laughed. She said she and Steve knew that the two of us would never go for a set up or a double date and that’s why they planned it the way they had. She had information I didn’t … the day I met Wilbur he made a comment as Kim and I left the apartment. He said to Steve, “Wow, that girl is a piece of work!” Steve took that to mean he was interested in me, but was too shy to say anything more.

As they say, the rest is a romantic fairytale… though very real and never, ever boring. We both finished school; Wilbur with a B.S. in aerospace flight, May ’90, and me with a B.A. in interior design and a minor in graphic design, May ‘91. We married on Sept. 15, 1991, at Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens – the first nonfamily wedding ever held there. We were surrounded by our fellow Kent State graduates, family and friends that day. The two who set us up, Kim and Steve, were there also … taking full credit for starting it all!

From Mississippi we moved another six times before settling in Marlboro, N.Y. Twenty four and a half years later, we have two wonderful boys, 18 and 15, a house we built with our own hands, successful careers and yes, the Jeep … we still have the Jeep. Oh by the way … Wilbur finally let me drive that Jeep, a testament to true love. She may be old, a little rough and needs some work … but she holds many fond memories as does Kent State. Thank you Kent State, for starting the fire that still burns so brightly today!