Everett Asmus

The date was February 1, 1966. The social chairman of our house – Caine House in Friley Hall – had arranged a dessert exchange with the women of Welch Hall, to be held at the Friley Tearoom. I had signed up to attend. I’d been on exchanges before and knew that there was always some gimmick for getting the men paired up with the women, such as having all the gals put one of their shoes in a pile and the guys then choosing a shoe and finding the lady to whom it belonged. This time we were told to line up with males on one side of the room facing the females on the other side, shortest to tallest. I knew I was one of the shorter men in my house, so I headed for the end of the line. Anticipating what was coming next, I glanced across the way to see who my potential “date” was going to be. I was not impressed with her looks, but noted that the young lady second in line was much prettier. I quickly turned to the guy next to me and said, “Hey, you’re shorter than I am,” and made a hasty move to exchange places with him. Just then the social chairman told everyone to walk forward and meet their date for the evening. The name of that second-shortest gal was Sheryl Persinger, and I had been five seconds away from not meeting her. We spent the evening getting acquainted over ice cream sundaes and dancing to music from the jukebox. Three years later, we were married on May 4, 1969, and we will soon celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary.