When were you both at the School?
Ron attended Illinois from 1975 until 1980. He received his A.M. in 1977 and his Ph.D. in 1980. Ellen attended Illinois from 1977 until 1980 and received her A.M. in 1981.
How did you meet and start dating?
The School was quite small at that time, so everyone knew everyone else. Ron started dating Ellen’s friend and he was also one of the teaching assistants for Statistics, though Ellen had the other teaching assistant (who was more oriented to the non-quantitative types). Ron was also Ellen’s TA in labor economics.
What was your favorite date night location?
We did date and got engaged while in Champaign-Urbana. We enjoyed an Asian restaurant in downtown Urbana, Coslow’s and Murphy’s bars in campustown, the Deluxe Café for fish sandwiches on Fridays, an occasional Garcia’s slice, and the Red Barn for breakfast. We also loved having season basketball tickets for several years.
When/where were you married?
We were married while in grad school, on August 4, 1979. We were married in Wrentham, Massachusetts, Ellen’s home town.
What are you up to today?
We are both retired and live in southwest Florida during the winter. In the summer we live in central Massachusetts. Ellen retired as VP of HR for Excellus BlueCross BlueShield in Syracuse, NY. Ron retired as Senior Vice Provost and Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. We are fortunate to have 3 sons and 3 grandsons to date. One of our sons is a human resources manager.
When was the last time you visited campus?
It has been a very long time since we visited campus. We don’t get out to Illinois very much.
Are there any other favorite memories from your time together on campus?
We had a wonderful time, with wonderful friends while at Illinois. We were a very close knit group, and have stayed in touch with many of our fellow classmates over the years. In those years, it was typical for someone to volunteer their house for a Saturday night party by writing in chalk on the board in the lounge. We would have forty or fifty people for those gatherings and we hosted one or two at our house at 2nd and Chalmers.
