We asked the same set of questions to 3 individual alums from 55, 30 and 5 years ago, as well as 4 couples across multiple generations. Ahead, our super-scientific results.
How did you meet?
Larry Hauser ’64 and Barbara Hauser ’65: We met in 1962-1963 at a “Served Dinner” at Frary Dining Hall, where a vigorous courtship ensued with lots of coffee dates that had to be completed by the 10 p.m. curfew.
Classes of 1964 & 1965
Larry Hauser ’64 and Barbara Hauser ’65
Richard Bookwaiter ’82 and Galen Leung ’82:
We met as first-years when we were both elected to the Freshman Dorm Council representing Oldenborg and Walker, respectively.
Rob Ricketts ’97 and Karla Romero ’97:
We met in January 1996 in Harwood Basement. Rob was a transfer student, and Karla was his assigned sponsor.
Kai Fukutaki ’17 and Sameen Boparai ’17:
While we first met during Orientation Adventure in Sequoia, we didn’t start hanging out until we crossed paths in the social dance clubs, including ballroom dance.
What is your favorite Pomona College
memory together?
Hauser and Hauser: Our “Pinning Ceremony”—the entire Zeta Chi Sigma Fraternity marched down to South Campus and sang a romantic serenade at Mudd-Blaisdell, marking the start of our lifelong journey together.
Bookwaiter and Leung: After the “Survivors’ Party” for students who had made it through the fall, we were the only two who showed up on the cleaning committee.
Class of 1982
Richard Bookwaiter ’82 and Galen Leung ’82
Ricketts and Romero: Harwood Halloween, where we saw a relevantly unknown opening act called the Black Eyed Peas.
Fukutaki and Boparai: During senior week in San Diego, we put our liberal arts degrees to good use: we won pub trivia, sang karaoke and had our ecology friends help us identify tide pool creatures!
How long have you been together?
Hauser and Hauser: Married 60 years! We just attended Barbara’s 60th Pomona reunion and are forever bonded to this beautiful campus with all of its memories.
Bookwaiter and Leung: 34 years! By the end of our senior year we knew we wanted to be together. We married in August 2008.
Ricketts and Romero: We’ve been together since May 1996, with one brief intermission in 1998-99. We found our way back to each other, and have been inseparable ever since.
Class of 1997
Karla Romero ’97 and Rob Ricketts ’97
Fukutaki and Boparai: 9 years! We immediately had to do two years of long-distance after college but fortunately both ended up in Seattle for graduate school.
What is your secret to a successful relationship?
Hauser and Hauser: Patience, optimism and a sense of firm commitment. Per philosopher Brian Andreas: “I’m deciding everything is falling into place perfectly, as long as you don’t get too picky about what you mean by ‘place’. Or ‘perfectly.’”
Bookwaiter and Leung: Our relationship has lasted over 34 years because we are able to communicate with each other.
Ricketts and Romero: Relationships aren’t about being right—they’re about growing together. Also, we laugh a lot. Humor keeps things light even when things get heavy. We don’t agree on everything or spend every waking moment together, but we consistently show up for one another.
Fukutaki and Boparai: Cultivating healthy communities has helped us feel fulfilled and supported so that we don’t depend solely on each other. Staying curious and always learning new things, together and apart, keeps us excited about the world—and each other.
Class of 2017
Kai Fukutaki ’17 and Sameen Boparai ’17
What is your fondest memory of Pomona?
Blair: Groups of us would get tickets to classical concerts in Big Bridges, where we’d see Arthur Rubinstein, Van Cliburn, Christopher Parkening and the Romeros, among many others.
Trupin: I think a lot about the freshman seminar, the intramural sports and, of course, both the good friends and the meaningful conversations I had all the time there.
Addo-Ashong: I don’t think I could truly narrow down to just one memory—I look back at dozens of moments spent with my friends and laugh all the time.
Where did you and your friends hang out?
Blair: I developed some of my longer-lasting friendships when I lived in Oldenborg for two years. We hung out in the language lounge for the Russian and Chinese students. I was studying Russian. We studied, we partied and had a great time there.
Class of 1970
Tina Blair ’70
Trupin: We attempted to study at pools, a lot. Somehow I still passed my classes. We ate a lot of fried food and shakes at the Coop. And we ventured to parties on whatever campus was hosting one.
Addo-Ashong: I could guarantee that you’d see me and my friends in Frary at some point, especially for Snack. My Sontag suite was also a glorified community center my senior year with the number of people that were in and out every day.
The career path you first envisioned in college—is that what you’re doing now?
Blair: I fell in love with the fields of anthropology and education. As a result, I studied at Stanford and received an MA in Education. Although later I studied theology, was ordained a Presbyterian minister and received a Ph.D. from the Claremont School of Theology, I was always using what I had learned at Pomona.
Trupin: I majored in American Studies, so I wouldn’t say I had a planned career path. But I did get to spend a lot of time focusing on youth homelessness at Pomona, including a Watson Fellowship in Latin America. I still work on that today, so the answer, I guess, is yes!
Class of 1995
Casey Trupin ’95
Addo-Ashong: I didn’t have one career path clearly laid out, but my current job working in data analysis and research for litigation is a good mix of my public policy analysis and math background. My next steps are to apply for a master’s in similar fields, so in that sense, I think I’m following what I set out to do!
What do you wish you’d known before you came to Pomona?
Blair: I felt instantly at home at Pomona because of the many new students who, like me, had lived outside the United States. I was embarrassed, however, that I had not yet heard of Jefferson Airplane and their music.
Trupin: This is a rare four-year opportunity that you’ll never get again, and you should take advantage of all it has to offer during your time there. A lot of us would come back for another year if we could.
Addo-Ashong: I wish I’d known that the pluses and minuses on grades do in fact affect your GPA, because that was a very rude awakening my freshman fall!
Class of 2020
Victoria Marie Addo-Ashong ’20
What was your favorite dining-hall food?
Blair: I have little memories of the food. It was better in Oldenborg than elsewhere.
Trupin: Fried mozzarella sticks at the Coop. In the dining hall, maybe the omelet bar—how nice it would be to have that in my house now!
Addo-Ashong: My usual breakfast omelet and avocado toast, maybe the tomato/burrata, and balsamic sandwiches and the oatmeal craisin cookies!
What was the best book you read during your Pomona years?
Blair: A book that over the long term shaped me the most was Mysticism, by Evelyn Underhill. I read it for a course I took at Pitzer; we also read Tillich and William James.
Trupin: In the Name of Eugenics by Daniel Kevles stuck with me and stays relevant today as a frightening and helpful exploration of using science to justify racism and every type of discrimination.
Addo-Ashong: I don’t know how many books I read for fun , but I really enjoyed American Hookup by Lisa Wade!
What was your favorite band while you were in college?
Blair: The Beatles, then Jefferson Airplane and the Doors.
Trupin: I have fond memories of seeing No Doubt perform in my dorm. They weren’t my favorite band, and I think my glasses fell into the mosh pit and got crushed, but it still stands out.
Addo-Ashong: I’d say favorite actual band was Glass Animals, and individuals were SZA and Childish Gambino.
What was the first electronic device you ever owned?
Blair: I got my first computer in 1986, when I was working on my Ph.D. dissertation.
Trupin: My roommate and I had a combo tape/record/CD player that I think was the size of half of one of our walls.
Addo-Ashong: My Game Boy Advance.