Pictured: Darwin and Julie (DeWitt) Garcia ‘19 on the big day during the Sioux Drops, when you look at the (left) and you can John and you can Shelly (Knudson) Rock ‘94 on the special day for the Marshall, Minnesota, when you look at the August 1995 (right).
You cannot enchantment “love” instead of Ole, and two Augustana University people are research. Because previous Viking Days royalty, John and you will Shelly (Knudson) Stone ‘94 and Darwin and you can Julie (DeWitt) Garcia ‘19, grabbed its titles away from “king and queen” and you will became him or her on the “husband and wife.”
For the Oct. eleven, 1993, best friends, John and Shelly (Knudson) Rock ‘94, had been titled Viking Days Queen and you can King, much to their surprise. Following coronation, John try cited about Augustana Mirror saying the best part of going crowned queen “was addressing go everywhere with Shelly Knudson!”
“I think he was brand of teasing beside me since he said that regarding papers, so that is actually rather easy,” Shelly laughed.
Almost one year toward date these people were crowned, John suggested so you can Shelly. And you may, ten weeks later, brand new Rocks was in fact hitched.
The brand new couple’s tale began at Augustana from inside the 1990, after they had been each other basic-year beginner-sports athletes – John, a beneficial Peterson, Iowa, local, was a golf ball user and you can Shelly, out-of . One another registered AU’s part of Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA).
John finished one spring with a last biggest and you can additional degree certificate, and you will Shelly lived an extra 12 months to-do the lady breastfeeding biggest. Into Oct. 18, 1994, just a-year and something day when they was indeed crowned queen and you will king, John try asked because of the FCA to go back in order to Augustana and you may speak.
“It actually was along with Shelly’s birthday celebration, and i also took the lady in order to Minervas the downtown area,” John told you. “Following, certainly my buddies stayed in my personal old dormitory place in Solberg (Hall), thus i got her or him set it up, and i also advised in order to Shelly from inside the Solberg.
He desired to give e gazebo in which it started relationships
The couple got married into the August 1995, in Marshall, Minnesota. The newest FCA worship band did tunes for the service, and except that a number of friends and you will siblings, the main wedding party and site visitors were made up away from Augustana alumni.
Now, almost three decades when they were crowned Viking Months queen and queen, the happy couple lives in Peterson, Iowa, where John could have been helping toward relatives farm when you’re training legislation just like the a controlling spouse regarding Rock Hutchinson, PLLP. Shelly is the administrator manager of your own Connection out of Storm River, a positive childhood development nonprofit ministry. New Stones has three children, Joseph, twenty-four, Lincoln, 22, and you will Caleb, 20.
Which have nearly three decades of marriage below its straps, the newest Stones said accepting and you will prioritizing both are very important in order to one relationships.
“Walk which have humility, continually be willing to forgive and be pleased towards you to definitely you will get simply to walk because of lifetime with,” Shelly said.
“Shelly is similar today since the she was then for the reason that she extremely links with individuals really well,” John told you. “This woman is plus never daunted by having to do stuff that want to get done, very she’s most balanced in that way.”
Each other Shelly and you may John told you they’re thankful you to Augustana granted them possibilities to expand as the some body, together with assistance and you will encouragement.
In the 1994, a few months just after Viking Weeks, John and Shelly made their relationship formal
“It was an awesome college experience,” John told you. “I got a cool knowledge, friends and you can an excellent wife.”
When Darwin and you may Viking Months King and you will King, many thanks on audience were loud due to the fact long time partners presented for photo, beaming at every most other.
The brand new Garcia’s tale began for the 2016, at the end of the first year from the s Place of work (IPO) Rendezvous in which Darwin is actually giving a demonstration for the his domestic nation, Honduras. Immediately following understanding they’d a mutual pal, the 2 started initially to talk and you can bundle data times. But not, the end of this new informative year implied Darwin create go back home so you can Tegucigalpa, Honduras, with the june, and you will Julie to help you Yankton, Southern area Dakota. It reconnected from the slide, and a few months afterwards, Darwin got a surprise.
“I got the woman having a stroll, and we stopped throughout the gazebo of the Administration Building,” Darwin said. “I experienced my pal disappear some cupcakes personally that said, ‘Are you currently my personal spouse?’”
Julie recognized, and you can three-years and many study schedules after, the couple graduated regarding Bien au into the 2019. Darwin is actually an effective physics and you will mathematics twice significant, and you will Julie are a breastfeeding biggest. Once graduation, it relocated to Rochester, Minnesota, in which Julie is a rn during the Mayo Infirmary Emergency Department, and you can Darwin was a Ph.D. candidate during the Mayo Clinic Graduate College out-of Biomedical Sciences.
In the , Darwin had some other amaze. He’d a photographer and you can members of the family willing to assist your remove it well. Up coming, the new pandemic hit, and you will Minnesota are on lockdown. Due to the fact Julie is handling clients with COVID-19, the couple decided it had been greatest to not traveling.
“We came up with an excellent scavenger take a look, and i also shared with her it absolutely was a grad college or university pastime you datingmentor.org/escort/kent to I needed the girl to try out,” Darwin told you. “It added the girl to help you an effective gazebo in town in which I experienced photographs hung-up and you may cupcakes once again, however, now they told you, ‘Do you ever wed myself?’”
“I am particular troubled how unaware I was, instance, I absolutely had no suggestion,” Julie chuckled. “I really don’t think about one term the guy said, it was extremely special how much time and energy the guy put into it. And you may, the newest cupcakes brought it full circle, that was extremely nice.”
The couple fastened this new knot when you look at the Sioux Falls, to your , a party Julie referred to as one another “a beneficial Latino-Midwest mixing marriage” and you may “an informed time previously.” The marriage – an excellent Lutheran and Catholic services shared – is laden up with Augustana relationships. Fr. Kevin O’Dell, AU’s previous chaplain, did the latest Catholic portion of the service, and you can previous Professor out-of Language Sam Ogdie interpreted the brand new ceremony to have Darwin’s family members, who had been indeed there out of Honduras.
The fresh Garcias desire to as time goes by hold a wedding lobby for the Honduras after which visit among their islands because of their honeymoon. Before this, the happy couple is actually grateful having Augustana providing her or him together with her.
“Julie finds contentment within the perhaps the tiniest of one thing and certainly will really change my day – if I’m troubled and you may overrun, she can brighten my big date together delight,” said Darwin.
“Instead of Augie, there clearly was most likely no chance we will have also satisfied,” Julie extra. “So, we have been just most thankful to own Augustana once the in which more you are going to one to connection happen?”