First they fell in love with Guilford. Then they fell in love with each other. It seems like every Guilfordian knows a couple or two that met their – pick one – sweetheart, soulmate, true love while attending the College. On Valentine’s Day, we’re sharing a few of those happily-ever-after stories.

As Elisabeth Catterton ’17 tells the story, future husband Codee Catterton ’18 experienced love at first bite when she sat down at his table with a group of other students for lunch at Founders. She was less convinced. “It took me a little longer to come around,” she says.

“Codee was two years above me so I didn’t know anything about him or any of the other people at the table,” says Elisabeth.

That changed quickly. Codee and Elisabeth had a first date at Azteca Mexican Restaurant in Quaker Village on Cinco de Mayo. “He started dancing at the restaurant and it was atrocious,” she says laughing. “That’s when I knew he was for me.”

They married in August of 2020 with many Guilford friends in attendance. They have a 13-month-old son, Peyton.

“There’s something about Guilford,” she says. “You may not find someone you’re going to marry, but you’re going to know a lot of people well because it’s so small. That’s a great thing about the College.”

From friends to forever

Love does not boast and love is kind. But above all love is patient. In the case of Carla ’73 and Kyd Brenner ’73, painstakingly patient. Carla and Kyd were friends at Guilford, went to the same parties at Guilford, even worked on The Guilfordian, the College’s student-run newspaper, together. They both dated a lot – just not each other.

“I guess it seems odd that we never dated at Guilford,” says Carla. “We traveled in the same circles and shared the same friends. We were just dating those friends.”

It wasn’t until 1974, a year after they graduated and moved back to Washington, D.C., that they decided to hang out, which later led to a few dates. “I remember after a few dates thinking, ‘Wow, this is a really nice person. Kind of cute, too. So we started seeing each other – just as friends.”

Forty-five years later, they’re more than just friends. “It’s worked out pretty well,” she says.

Second chance

Jeff Albright ’94 and Louise Lesermen were good friends their first year at Guilford. When Louise told Jeff she was transferring to a college in Tennessee, Jeff thought he’d lost more than just a good friend.

Jeff still recalls the day Louise packed her car and went home after the first year, “I just remember dropping to my knees and crying,” recalls Jeff. “I had so many feelings for Louise but never acted on them. Now she was leaving and I remember thinking I’d missed my chance.”

Jeff and Louise moved on with their lives. They both married and had children. They kept in touch through phone calls and emails. Sometimes, when Jeff’s job took him on the road, they’d even meet for lunch.

“He was like the best friend you could have,” says Louise. “Even after Guilford I always felt comfortable talking to him.”

Years later, when they were single again, Jeff and Louise reconnected as friends first, but that friendship quickly evolved into dating. “It was like we were those two freshmen back at Guilford,” he says.

In August of 2022, Jeff and Louise, dating now, were roaming Guilford’s empty campus when they walked past Binford Hall, where they’d spent so many nights sitting outside together as first years. They sat down to talk. About Guilford, their lives and how grateful they were that 31 years later love gave them a second chance. That's when Jeff bent to one knee by the stairs. He was holding a ring. This time there were no tears, only smiles.

On a July Sunday in 2023, Jeff and Louise, surrounded by their new blended family, married on a small island near Beaufort, N.C.

Their love story has been a long and winding one. “There are times,” says Louise, “Where we’ll be watching a movie on the couch and I’ll just hit pause and say, ‘How did we get here?’”

Louise says she gives Guilford the credit for her path crossing Jeff’s. “I was only there a year but it feels like my school. How can it not? Look who it brought to me.”

Grateful for Guilford

Hard to believe, but Steve Bird ’94 and Amy Lytle ’95 never took a class together at Guilford. But they did attend the same vegetarian potluck dinner at Amy’s apartment one Friday night. As they say, the rest was history.

Well, not quite. They first started dating during parent’s weekend in 1993. Their relationship lasted through Amy heading off to study in Brunnenberg, Germany. Neither thought it was too serious, but then how do you explain Amy flying from Germany into Philadelphia and her mother driving her overnight to Guilford so she could attend Steve’s graduation?

So maybe they were serious. It wasn’t until Amy went away for a week to attend a friend’s wedding that Steve thought maybe she was the one. Steve remembers the week as a long one. “I was sitting around the house and I remember thinking, ‘man, this sucks.’ Why am I holding onto this idea that I might not want this person in my life forever?”

When Steve proposed, Amy needed time. Five days actually. It wasn’t that she didn’t love him. To the moon and back she loved him. She was a Women’s Studies major at Guilford. “It wasn’t Steve I questioned, it was the institution of marriage.”

On the fifth day, she said yes.

“I cannot imagine my life without him,” she says. “I owe a lot of things in my life to Guilford. If I had gone somewhere else my whole life would be different than what it is now. I’m so grateful for that.”