Pictured: Darwin and you will Julie (DeWitt) Garcia ‘19 to their wedding day within the Sioux Falls, in (left) and you may John and you may Shelly (Knudson) Rock ‘94 on their big day in Marshall, Minnesota, in August 1995 (right).
You can not spell “love” in place of Ole, and two Augustana College people is actually research. Because the previous Viking Weeks royalty, John and Shelly (Knudson) Stone ‘94 and you will Darwin and you may Julie (DeWitt) Garcia ‘19, grabbed the headings regarding “king and you will queen” and you may became him or her into “wife https://datingmentor.org/pl/katolickie-randki/ and husband.”
Into October. 11, 1993, best friends, John and you will Shelly (Knudson) Rock ‘94, was basically titled Viking Days Queen and you can Queen, far on their shock. After the coronation, John was cited in the Augustana Echo saying the good thing of getting crowned queen “is addressing go almost everywhere that have Shelly Knudson!”
“I do believe he was type of flirting beside me as the guy asserted that regarding papers, so are pretty smooth,” Shelly chuckled.
Almost 1 year towards time they were crowned, John suggested in order to Shelly. And you will, 10 weeks afterwards, this new Rocks were hitched.
This new couple’s tale first started on Augustana within the 1990, when they had been both very first-season scholar-professional athletes – John, a Peterson, Iowa, native, was a golf ball player and you can Shelly, out of . One another registered AU’s chapter out of Fellowship from Christian Professional athletes (FCA).
John finished you to spring which have a past big and you will secondary education certification, and you will Shelly existed a supplementary seasons accomplish their nursing major. Into October. 18, 1994, just a year and one month once they have been crowned queen and you may queen, John are requested by the FCA to return to Augustana and cam.
“It absolutely was also Shelly’s birthday celebration, and i also got the girl so you’re able to Minervas downtown,” John told you. “Upcoming, certainly one of my friends lived-in my personal old dormitory space when you look at the Solberg (Hall), thus i got them set it up, and i also recommended so you can Shelly for the Solberg.
The guy planned to give elizabeth gazebo in which it come relationships
The happy couple had partnered into the August 1995, into the Marshall, Minnesota. New FCA worship band did sounds to the ceremony, and aside from a few family unit members and you will siblings, their wedding party and visitors have been made up regarding Augustana alumni.
Today, almost three decades after they was indeed crowned Viking Weeks queen and you will queen, the couple stays in Peterson, Iowa, where John has been permitting to the relatives ranch while you are practicing legislation while the a regulating lover regarding Rock Hutchinson, PLLP. Shelly is the executive movie director of your own Link of Storm Lake, a positive young people creativity nonprofit ministry. The Stones provides around three youngsters, Joseph, 24, Lincoln, 22, and you may Caleb, 20.
That have nearly thirty years away from matrimony around the straps, the Stones said accepting and prioritizing one another are essential so you can one dating.
“Go which have humility, continually be prepared to forgive and get pleased into the you to that you will get to walk as a result of lifestyle which have,” Shelly said.
“Shelly is the identical now just like the she was then in that she extremely links with others perfectly,” John said. “She’s and never apprehensive with the thought of having to do stuff that want to get done, so she is extremely well-balanced by doing this.”
One another Shelly and John told you these are typically pleased that Augustana provided him or her chances to develop because the someone, also help and you will reassurance.
For the 1994, two months just after Viking Months, John and Shelly produced the dating formal
“It had been a fabulous university feel,” John said. “I had an amazing knowledge, good friends and you will good spouse.”
When Darwin and you will Viking Days Queen and you may Queen, thank you in the crowd have been noisy just like the long time partners posed to have photographs, beaming at each almost every other.
The new Garcia’s story first started in 2016, at the end of their first 12 months within s Office (IPO) Rendezvous in which Darwin try providing a speech toward his household nation, Honduras. Once studying they had a common buddy, the two began to cam and you may package studies dates. not, the end of the new academic season intended Darwin perform go home in order to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, with the summer, and you may Julie to Yankton, South Dakota. It reconnected regarding slide, and a few weeks later, Darwin got a shock.
“We took the lady to possess a walk, and now we eliminated throughout the gazebo from the Management Building,” Darwin said. “I’d my good friend fall off some cupcakes for me personally you to told you, ‘Are you my wife?’”
Julie recognized, and you will 3 years and you will most data schedules later, the happy couple finished regarding Au for the 2019. Darwin are good physics and you can mathematics twice big, and Julie is a nursing big. Shortly after graduation, they gone to live in Rochester, Minnesota, where Julie is actually a registered nurse on Mayo Infirmary Crisis Service, and you may Darwin was a Ph.D. applicant in the Mayo Medical center Scholar College away from Biomedical Sciences.
For the , Darwin got several other treat. He’d a professional photographer and you can members of the family willing to help your remove it well. Next, brand new pandemic strike, and you may Minnesota try on lockdown. Since the Julie is dealing with clients which have COVID-19, the happy couple felt like it actually was better to not ever travelling.
“We created good scavenger see, and i also shared with her it actually was a grad university activity you to I desired this lady to test out,” Darwin said. “It added this lady to help you good gazebo around in which I had images hung up and you will cupcakes once more, but this time around it said, ‘Do you marry me personally?’”
“I’m kind of distressed about how exactly clueless I was, such as for instance, I absolutely didn’t come with suggestion,” Julie laughed. “I do not consider just one phrase the guy told you, but it are really special how much time and energy the guy put in it. And, the fresh cupcakes put they back to where it started, which was extremely sweet.”
The couple tied up this new knot during the Sioux Falls, into the , a celebration Julie named each other “good Latino-Midwest blend relationships” and you can “an informed date ever before.” The marriage – an effective Lutheran and you will Catholic solution joint – try full of Augustana associations. Fr. Kevin O’Dell, AU’s previous chaplain, performed the newest Catholic portion of the service, and you can previous Professor off Foreign language Sam Ogdie interpreted new ceremony getting Darwin’s relatives, who was here away from Honduras.
This new Garcias desire to in the foreseeable future keep a marriage reception inside the Honduras following go certainly their countries because of their honeymoon. Until then, the happy couple is simply thankful to have Augustana delivering them with her.
“Julie finds out joy inside perhaps the tiniest away from some thing and will really change my time – if I am troubled and you can overloaded, she will lighten my go out together delight,” told you Darwin.
“In the place of Augie, there is certainly most likely no way that we will have even found,” Julie additional. “Therefore, we are only very grateful getting Augustana once the where more you are going to one to connection happens?”