Hen Over Heels: Stories From Our Double Dels
In celebration of Valentine’s Day, we asked the Blue Hen community to send us their UD love stories.
We know our alumni love the University of Delaware, and that’s especially true of Double Dels, alumni who marry or date other alumni. In celebration of Valentine’s Day, we asked the Blue Hen community to send us their UD love stories. We hope the memories shared here get your heart fluttering!
Are you and your partner Double Dels? Let us know here.
Looking for a specific couple?
Greta & Jeff | John & Ann | Kathy & Mike | Jenn & Jesse | Charlie & Sam | Patti & Ted | Jon & Lori | Alex & Melissa | Andrew & Bari | Phil & Vicki | JJ & Lizzy | Molly & Ben
Greta Gurdikian-Wiley, AS85, and Jeffrey Wiley, AS85
We met at the end of September of our freshman year. We both lived on the first floor of Cannon Hall. Jeff was looking for women to play on his intramural frisbee team and heard Greta was an athlete in high school. Greta said no because she was going to have knee surgery that summer. Jeff was still fascinated with her because of all the Philadelphia sports team pictures on her wall. We became best friends, and on November 14, still in our freshman year, Jeff said he liked Greta as more than a friend. We dated all through our years at Delaware and got married two years later. We have been married for 38 years, and we are still best friends.
John W. Terres, EG58, and Ruth Ann Follett Terres, AS62
We met at the University of Delaware. Jack called Ann for a date and she accepted. On January 28, 2026, we celebrated our 65th wedding anniversary. The photo shows us in Antarctica. During our retirement years we have visited all seven continents and most of the states. Our last trip was to Iceland.
Mary Katharine Green, BE70, and Michael Green, AS70, EHD74M
Mike first fell in love with the University when he was accepted to a National Science Foundation summer program on campus between his junior and senior years in high school. After that, his love of UD led him back to campus for the rest of his academic journey. Kathy also fondly recalls her days at UD, joking she was on a six-year plan. She actually flunked out after a year and a half because she was in the wrong major but was determined to get her degree from UD. Kathy and Mike met during her final year of studies while playing bridge in The Scrounge. We’ve donated to UD for 45 years, 29 at the Delaware Diamonds Society level, and we’re members of the Carillon Circle to make sure we still support in death. We received wonderful educations, and UD has allowed us to live a very nice life. It’s a pleasure to give back to the University that gave us so much.
Jennifer Judy, AS02, and Jesse Judy, HS99
We met in the weight room! Jenn was an athlete on the field hockey team at UD and Jesse was working in the weight room in the Bob. We started dating when Jesse finished his grad degree in 2001, got married in 2006 and moved back to Delaware for jobs in 2015. Jenn is an HR director for Athletics and Development and Alumni Relations at UD, and Jesse has been the head coach of the UD CrossFit and Hen House Hybrid programs in the Little Bob. This upcoming fall, our daughter will be attending UD and joining the Blue Hens field hockey team, too!
Charlie Paulos, BE16, and Sam Giordano, AS17
We met at a party on Main Street through our mutual friends and officially started dating in March 2016. We loved Homegrown and used to go there for food constantly. We did a long-distance relationship for two years after graduation and ended up moving in together right before the pandemic in the D.C. area. We moved to New York City in August 2022 and got engaged in Central Park (June 2023) and married (May 2025) in Jersey City overlooking the Manhattan Skyline. We currently reside in Long Island City with our tuxedo cat Taffy.
Patricia Haas, HS70, and Theodore Haas, ANR71
We met in Rehoboth Beach. Ted was a Rehoboth Beach Patrol lifeguard and Patti was a waitress at the Delaware Room Restaurant on Main Street in Rehoboth. A date night two days later was arranged after Ted was served his dinner that evening. We dated for two years as UD students and have been happily married for 56 years. A beautiful Double Dels connection happening over a cheap spaghetti dinner!
Alex Koutek, AS10, BE20M, and Melissa Finger, BE10
We met through mutual friends right before our senior year started. We had always known of one another but never officially met until that night, both pretending not to know who the other one was when we were introduced. We have been married for 12.5 years and have two sons—maybe future Blue Hens?
Andrew Woods, HS20, 22M, 23DPT, and Bari Sugarman, BE20
We met in New Zealand on different study abroad trips. Bari was on a hospitality trip that went to Australia and New Zealand, and Andrew was in an exercise science class that went to New Zealand. Our trips both met up at the same bar in Wellington, and we hit it off! We have been together ever since, and Andrew proposed by the fountain at UD.
Philip Goettel, AS94, EHD06M, and Vicki VanNote Goettel, EHD93, 97M
We met at UD in the fall of 1990, dated through college and got married in the fall of 1994. We went on to get jobs and master’s degrees. Now, Vicki has been full-time faculty at UD since 2001, and Phil has worked at UD part-time since 2015. Both our kids are students here. We have a senior undergrad and a first-year grad student.
JJ Fugaro, BE18, and Lizzy Fugaro, AS18
We met while attending UD together. Lizzy’s close friend and junior/senior year roommate went to high school with JJ. Their sorority often mixed with his fraternity and Lizzy’s roommate set us up and not-so-gently pushed us together. She ended up being Lizzy’s maid of honor at our wedding years later! Our first date was at El Diablo on Main Street. We finally made it official after Lizzy’s sorority’s date party in April 2017. We survived a long distance relationship while Lizzy went to graduate school in Virginia and eventually bought a house together in New Jersey in 2022, got engaged and finally got married in the fall of 2023. We are now expecting our first child, who will no doubt be dressed in some Blue Hen gear. We will always love UD and our beginnings there!
Ben Fairer, AS14, and Molly Bado, EOE16
We met on Halloween night 2013 in DP Dough! We also made sure to kiss under the arch when we knew it was right! This is our 13th year together, our fourth married. Ben graduated and joined the Navy and retired in January 2023 as Petty Officer First Class. Throughout Ben’s service, deployments and training, he wrote Molly letters, some of them posted to her dorm in Christiana Towers. Molly graduated early to meet him at his first duty station. We had the time of our lives at UD! Ben was in Club Sailing, and Molly was part of the Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences and an officer in Students for the Environment. Most of our closest friends are from our undergrad days, and there’s quite a few Double Dels in our group, too. UD and our time there will always be precious to us. Go Hens!
Want to share your Double Del story next Valentine’s Day? Submit your photos and stories here.