In honor of Valentine’s Day each year, we collect stories of couples who met at DePaul to share with our Blue Demon community. Thank you to everyone who submitted their stories. If you want to have your Demon Darlings photo and story added to this album, please email alumnisocialmedia@depaul.edu!
Kevin Clarke (BUS ’91, MBA ’97) & Patricia Clarke (BUS ’91, MBA ’97)
(Submitted by: Kevin)
We met at DePaul in the fall of 1987 during our accounting honors classes. During our difficult honors classes, we became close friends and began dating in 1990. We finished our undergraduate studies in 1991 and graduate studies in 1997. We fell in love during our time at DePaul and we are now celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary this May. We have three beautiful daughters and our oldest daughter, Sarah (CMN ’20), has continued the DePaul tradition and will be graduating this June.
Sebastian Gonzalez (BUS ’10) & Katie Gonzalez (MUS ’10)
(Submitted by: Katie)
Katie and Sebastian met during their undergrad studies at DePaul. After a few years of being friends, Sebastian boldly asked Katie to be his plus-one at a wedding. As a result, they have pictures from their first date! Katie and Sebastian got married on Aug. 4, 2018, at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Wilmette. They live in Uptown with their cat-daughter Abby.
Adam Jackson (SNL ’20) & Kathryn Kaysen Jackson (EDU ’97)
(Submitted by: Kathryn)
My Demon Darling story is not traditional, which I think fits in well with how DePaul becomes a connection between so many people! My husband Adam and I were married in 2009 in downtown Chicago and quickly embarked on our Blue Demon journey together! I graduated with my masters from the College of Education in 1997 and had an amazing experience at DePaul. I was a first generation college graduate, and being able to complete a master’s degree has changed the entire course of my life and opened many doors for me. I met Adam through a classmate at DePaul and years later we fell in love and got married! Adam is a veteran of the Marines and never finished the bachelor degree he began 20 years ago, so I suggested he look into DePaul’s School for New Learning (SNL). I knew SNL’s program worked well with experienced professionals who want to finish or begin a new degree that incorporates their work experience too. Adam is now finishing his degree thanks to SNL and we will soon be a Double Demon home!
*In July 2019, the School for New Learning became the School of Continuing Professional Studies.
Thomas Kosinski (BUS ’89, MST ’95) & Ann Kowalski (BUS ’89)
(Submitted by: Thomas)
Ann and I met as accounting students at the Lewis Center around the summer of 1988. We both participated in Accounting Club events during our junior year to meet CPA firms for office visits and prepare for job interviews as seniors. Due to our last names always pulling us together, we had many chances to meet and socialize up to graduation, but we never found the right timing. We focused on our accounting careers, and we never got married. Our story changed with a LinkedIn message from Ann, and a Coopers Hawk meeting during the holidays in December 2011. We agreed to catch up on our past and discovered what fun we missed over the last 25 years. After a year had passed, we finally got engaged during a Las Vegas trip to the Eiffel Tower Restaurant and got married on Sweetest Day in October 2013. It only took 25 years to go from classmates to soulmates, but we had fun making up for lost time. Our world turned upside down (from Hamilton) and we went sailing away (from Styx) with many fun memories. We now live in Burr Ridge and enjoy travel, music, theater and book reading, and we still are rooting on the Blue Demons to win! We are very grateful for DePaul giving us the first chance to meet and get started.
James Lachowicz (CSH ’79, MBA ’89) & Jean Lachowicz (CMN ’80, LAS MA ’89)
(Submitted by: Jean)
After final exams of my first quarter as a freshman, Nov. 24, 1976, to be exact, a group of friends from The DePaulia staff went out to lunch at Single File, followed by beverages at the Brass Ass. That’s the day I met Jim Lachowicz, who became my best friend and, in 1981, my spouse.
Our DePaulia staff were a very close group, and we’re still close friends today. It was such a gift to be able to experience our undergraduate years so closely connected to the news in and around the DePaul campuses (Lincoln Park and the Loop), working together to put out the weekly newspaper. Sometimes, our classes were more of an afterthought—the newspaper was the true center of our social and academic life. By the end of my sophomore year, Jim and I found our friendship developing into much more. I was elected to serve as editor-in-chief and he was elected to serve as associate editor the following year, and we valiantly tried to hide the fact, so as not to make anyone uncomfortable or appear to be somehow less than impartial student journalists. Of course, when we finally let people know that we were a couple by the end of that year, after great effort to be discrete, it was old news, and everyone had already figured it out long before!
Ryan Maconochie (LAS ’97) & Jennifer Maconochie (CSH ’97, JD ’05)
(Submitted by: Jennifer)
On a sunny September day at Seton Hall, I met Ryan Maconochie. No doubt he was handsome, but I knew immediately that he was so much more. We became fast friends and spent a lot of time together comparing obscure Smashing Pumpkins songs, seeing Blue Meanies at The Vic and sharing our worlds. Junior year he studied abroad in Italy and called me in the airport on his way out. I didn’t get my hopes up, thought it was just a friendly call, and even though letters soon followed, I was still in denial of what was happening. When he returned in the spring, I mentioned over beers at the Everleigh Club that one of our friends was interested in him. He said he had another person in mind… and that was me. Shortly after that, he invited me to one of his art shows on campus and surprised me by naming a beautiful charcoal drawing “Karas,” which is my maiden name. We married in Chicago in 2004 and have three amazing future Blue Demons. He is my favorite travel companion, artist and support system, and I would not want to imagine my world without him.
Joseph Makowski (CSH ’74) & Mary O’Brien (CSH ’74)
(Submitted by: Joseph)
Mary O’Brien and myself met in 1974 during spring quarter. We had two of the same classes–philosophy with the famous Fr. Battle, and Ted Kowalski and law and society with many field trips. This eventually led to me asking Mary out in the deep end of the DePaul swimming pool, and the rest is history: 42 years of wedded bliss! And three wonderful children.
Ben & Lucette Maroon (CSH ’18)
(Submitted by: Lucette)
Lucette and Benjamin (Ben), DePaul University Class of 2018, met in the psychology department as peer mentors their senior year. They were members of the organization, Psychology Peer Mentors, Lucette as vice president and Ben as a mentor. Ben could not attend the first meeting, so he rescheduled with Lucette. At their meeting, Ben arrived late as he forgot! Yikes, off to a rocky start. Nevertheless, they started brainstorming ideas for projects while getting excited about endless possibilities. When they parted ways that day, Ben offered a hug and Lucette not only agreed but also asked for a second one (which Ben happily agreed to!). One day, they decided to go to Lucette’s secret spot on campus: the roof of the former abandoned hospital parking garage, which overlooked the skyline. It was chilly that day, but they stayed for hours talking about life. At some point, Ben mentioned that when penguins get cold they huddle together, so they huddled for a little while on the roof! They went on many adventures, from a night at Lincoln Park Zoo full of light-up animals, to a candle-lit date at Mindy’s Hot Chocolate, to sitting by the lake at Fullerton Beach, to sharing interfaith celebrations, and much more. Exactly one year later, Lucette and Ben officially became girlfriend and boyfriend. DePaul remains special in their hearts; it is a place they call home as that is where it all began! They take pride in representing as Blue Demons. Meeting at DePaul elevated their relationship to new heights in unimaginable ways. Currently, Ben is pursuing environmental law and urban planning while Lucette is pursuing counseling and clinical neuropsychology.
Mark Netzel (CSH ’78) & Aleida Lozano Netzel (LAS ’79, JD ’82)
(Submitted by: Aleida)
My husband Mark, class of 1978, and I, class of 1979 and 1982, met at DePaul and got married at St. Vincent de Paul Parish. We now live in California.
Raymond Owens (LAS ’59, MEd ’68) & Eileen Kane Owens (LAS ’61)
(Submitted by: Eileen)
In January of 1958, I was a freshman, working after classes in the uptown LAS office. After work, I got on the southbound El at Fullerton to go home. Ray was a junior and worked after classes at Encyclopedia Brittanica, which was behind the Tribune building. He got on the same almost-empty El car at Chicago Avenue and sat down next to me. I had no idea who he was and totally ignored him. A few days later, I left the LAS office and met friends at the Roma, a little restaurant across the street from St. Vincent de Paul church, and then went to a DePaul basketball game at the still fairly new Alumni Hall. Attending games was very popular–Howie Carl and Billy Haig were my favorites. After the game, there was a dance in the old gym, nicknamed The Barn. The boy from the El asked me to dance. We’ve been together since. We married three years later, have three wonderful kids with their three great spouses and six grandkids. Next year we will celebrate our 60th wedding anniversary. Thanks, DePaul!
Mike Palzer (BUS ’11) & Amanda (Loris) Palzer (BUS ’11)
(Submitted by: Amanda)
Mike and I met in 2010 in an undergradrad marketing class at DePaul. As cliché as it may sound, our eyes locked from across the room during the first day of class and it was “love at first sight.” I decided that I was going to move across the classroom the next day of class to sit by him. As luck would have it, I broke my phone on the way downtown that morning and was very flustered upon arriving to class (how could we survive without a working phone for a whole day?!). As soon as I arrived, Mike immediately put down his phone, took out his ear buds and struck up a conversation with me. Once he heard about my morning, he immediately offered a spare phone he had–if I wanted to meet up later that night, I could use it. We exchanged numbers, met up that night and have been together ever since. DePaul has played a huge role in our relationship, and we are forever thankful to the university for bringing us together. One of our first dates was even going to a men’s basketball game against Marquette and we won on a last minute shot! We got married in 2015 after five years of dating, and we started a family in 2017. We have two perfect kids, Liam (2.5 yrs.) and Addison (1 yr.), and currently reside in Naperville, Ill.
Blue Demon Line 
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