As we celebrate Valentine’s Day at Linsly, Cadets interact with their romantic interests in class, through social media, and through the traditional Crush soda sale; additionally, several Linsly teachers have shared how they met their spouses. These charming stories include everything from dances, blind dates, and personal ads to entomological hikes.
Mr. & Mrs. Zimmerman
Shown in the title picture are Linsly’s headmaster and his now wife. The pair met while attending a boarding school similar to Linsly in their senior year. For their school’s fall formal, they went together after the suggestion of Mr. Zimmerman’s roommate. They will celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary this year and have two children.
Valentine’s Day Anniversaries: Mrs. Brutto; Mrs. Coleman
Mrs. Brutto, a French teacher, will be celebrating her 20th year together with her now husband this Valentine’s Day. While attending graduate school at WVU, she was dared to put a personal advertisement looking for a potential boyfriend over an anonymous mail service by her friends. She received an email from her husband and began corresponding with him regularly as friends. However, after a Valentine’s Day date with someone else went poorly, the two wound up having an all-night phone call and met in person for the first time the next day.
Mrs. Coleman also got together with her now-husband on Valentine’s Day. The couple met while working for the organization AmeriCorps, running an art program for people of all ages with disabilities. After five months of teaching, training, and traveling together for work, they had their first date on Valentine’s Day. They moved to Wheeling, adopted three dogs, and will celebrate their 11th year together this year.
Matchmaking and Blind Dates: Mr. Brubaker, Mrs. Zatezalo
Mr. Brubaker, one of the teachers with the most years at Linsly in teaching Social Studies and coaching, met his now-wife through coaching swim lessons. When he was coaching for the YMCA (at Linsly’s pool), one of the parents of his students knew his wife, a senior in college, and decided to bring her to one of the swim practices to meet Mr. Brubaker. The two started dating and were married within three years. Coincidentally, the grandchildren of the woman who introduced Mr. and Mrs. Brubaker attended and were members of the swim team at Linsly.
English Literature and Composition teacher Mrs. Zatezalo, pictured above, met her husband when their mutual friends arranged a blind date for them. The two found that they shared many of their interests. With much in common and matching sharp wits, the pair has been making each other laugh for 18 years.
Mr. & Mrs. Wallace
These two Linsly teachers went down surprisingly similar paths in life before getting together. Both alumni of Linsly, Mrs. Wallace graduated six years after Mr. Wallace. They also both attended Bethany College, which they respectively graduated from in 2008 and 2012, both pursuing degrees that would lead to teaching. They met at a concert in 2010 as Mrs. Wallace’s friends were slightly older and Mr. Wallace’s were slightly younger. They married after five years of dating and now have a young daughter, a dog, and 2 cats.
Dr. Edinger
Science and photography teacher met his now-wife, Nora, when he was a professor at Valparaiso University in Indiana. His wife was working as a naturalist at the nearby Indiana Dunes State Park. They met for the first time when she was leading an insect hike for park guests. A biologist and intrigued, Dr. Edinger offered to help out with the hike as there was a large crowd. Though Mrs. Edinger was initially hesitant because of past experiences with professors being know-it-alls during hikes, this one was a huge success for the guests and the pair eventually started dating. They have been hiking together for 30 years since then.
