At the Coug. In the CUB. On the mall.
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Coug couples share the stories of where and how they met at Washington State University.
WSU, it appears, is quite the matchmaker.
Want to add your love story to the mix? Email your anecdote along with then-and-now photos to associate editor Adriana Janovich at adriana.janovich@wsu.edu.
Meantime, enjoy these Coug love stories.
From Syria to Pullman
Munir Abdel-Massih Daud (’67 Civ. Eng., ’72 Arch.) came to the United States to get a degree. He planned to return home to Syria after that. He didn’t plan on falling in love, marrying his college sweetheart, and making a life in Pullman.
“I always wanted to send in my parents’ story,” writes Nadia Daud (’00 Poli. Sci.). “My parents have a WSU love story that transcends borders. My father was on a student visa from Aleppo, Syria, and my mother was also a WSU student from tiny Pomeroy, Washington. They met at WSU and got married. They ended up living in Pullman and raising their four children in Pullman.”
Munir studied at Whitworth College in Spokane, before transferring to WSU, where he met Janet LaVerne (Bye) Daud (’67 Ed.). According to her obituary in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, “Janet fully embraced the culture and traditions of her husband’s home country—the food, celebrations, and music all became her own, which she joyfully passed on to her children. … Janet took full advantage of the connections to family members in the Middle East, which offered many opportunities for travel. She was thrilled by her visits to Lebanon, Syria, and United Arab Emirates.”
The Dauds lived on the west side of the state for a while after they married, but returned to Pullman, where Munir started his own architecture and civil engineering firm, Munir Daud & Associates.
“He had his business for 48 years,” Nadia says. “My mother worked for 4-H Cooperative Extension Center at WSU and was a substitute teacher. They were too humble to talk about their story when they were alive, but their children were very proud of them.”
Two of the children are WSU alumni themselves: Ranna Daud (’04 Sport Mgmt.) and Nadia Daud.
Their other two children are John Daud and Laila Daud.
Their parents married in 1968 and celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in August 2018. Janet died that October. She was 73. Munir died at 80 in 2023.
Across a Crowded Dance Floor
By Randall Starkey (’72 Poli. Sci.)
I was a junior transfer to WSU in September 1970. I moved into Gannon Hall a few days before the semester began. I heard there was a dance to be held upstairs at the Compton Union Building and made a point to attend. There was quite a crowd. I was 20 years old.
In only a few minutes of standing around, I suddenly saw a beautiful girl across the crowded room. She had the prettiest eyes I ever saw. It was like, suddenly, there was nobody else in the room—nobody else in the entire world.
She said later she saw this strange guy (me) staring at her with a big smile. I can’t remember what music was playing but I asked her to dance and we started talking. She started jerking me around in jest, telling me she was from “Maple Gulch,” near Renton. It was really Maple Valley. She was also a junior transfer. She said she had a horse named “Buster” back home and a donkey named “Coco Loco.”
She really did have a horse and a donkey. Now, she says one jackass was traded for another. ME.
The very next night, there was another dance at the CUB. I was there again, and so was she.
We danced, and then we went outside to talk. While outside, I decided I had to kiss this young woman, and I did. It was great! She has since told me I had really sweet kisses. Her name is Janice Belleville (x’72).
We started school, and my roommate bumped into Janice in a hallway between classes. She asked him about me and wondered why I had not telephoned her.
I quickly responded and called her. She has always had a high-pitched voice, and when she answered the phone, she sounded like a sweet little girl. We began to see each other a lot. I would buy her red licorice ropes at the CUB snack counter downstairs, and I would walk the mile to the apartment she shared with some other gals. She loved it when I brought her those 3-foot-long red licorice ropes. We were madly, crazy in love and made people nauseous with our constant kissing and carrying on.
One night well before Christmas, I asked her to marry me. I had no idea how I was going to be married. I was just a college student without a job. She said “yes,” and I will never forget the joy I felt then. We giggled and ate peanut butter sandwiches at her apartment after that moment.
We hitched a ride to Spokane, where my parents lived. I borrowed Dad’s car. Janice and I drove around to some jewelry stores looking at rings. We found a beautiful wedding ring set at Weisfield Jewelers. I had no credit. The jeweler gave me a credit application, and I took it home to my Dad. He did not know we were going to get married, but Dad signed the form without hesitation. I am forever grateful.
Janice and I have now been married more than 52 years. I love the woman more than words can say. I became a songwriter and started writing and recording songs. One day, I surprised her by telling her I had written a song just for her. She probably expected a tender ballad. It is actually a humorous reggae song called, “Janice Bananas.”
You can hear the recording of me singing the song under my name on Spotify, Apple Music, and many other streaming platforms.
Our daughter, Amy Starkey (’94 Busi.), graduated from WSU. She once had a class with Drew Bledsoe (x’93).
From Olympia to Pullman
Bill “Nate” and Marcia Naismith “met” at WSU in 1971.
That’s actually not quite true. They grew up in the same town (Olympia), and attended the same grade school, junior high, and high school (Olympia High School), but did not start dating until their time in Pullman.
It was fall 1971. Marcia Morris (’74 English) was a sophomore living in Davis Hall. One evening, she was sitting on the Kimbrough Hall steps when Bill “Nate” Naismith (’73 Poli. Sci.) walked by.
He was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. She said hi since she knew him (sort of) from Olympia. He stopped. They (re)connected. And they have been together from that evening on.
They married in May 1974—50 years this spring! They both share many wonderful memories of their time together in Pullman. Also, they feel lucky to have wonderful WSU friends in their lives today who were part of this time in Pullman and their love story.
“Trombone couple”
Marching band brought them together.
Karen (Wehmhoff) (’82 Ani. Sci.) and Dan Burgard (’83 Soils Sci.) met through Cougar Marching Band, where they became known as the “trombone couple.”
“Once you join the band, you have instant friends,” Karen says. “And one of our friends played Cupid.”
“I spent two years in the marching band, and I met the love of my life,” Dan says.
Karen grew up in Alaska in a musical family and always knew she would try out for WSU’s marching band. Dan joined impulsively when he walked by a table of band members during registration and saw how much fun they were having. He had played in his high school marching band in California.
In addition, the WSU marching band’s recruiting poster was a draw.
“It was a cool poster,” Dan says. “A guy dressed in a band uniform was sitting on a cow in the middle of a Palouse field. He was playing a euphonium. It was a fellow who was in the band just before us.”
Karen later scanned the poster and had copies printed out. “Two of our four kids went to WSU, and they each have framed copies of it.”
Dan was the Outstanding Senior in the College of Agriculture, or “Aggie of the Year,” in 1983. His major in soil sciences led to graduate work in Minnesota and a consulting career for issues in agriculture, water use, and environmental services. Karen’s animal nutrition major provided the science background she used at several jobs.
“We have ties here,” Karen says. “I still keep in touch with three of my friends from McAllister Hall, which is now a grassy field by Kruegel Hall. It’s sad the dorm is gone, but the memories from our time at WSU live on.”
Cruisin’ for keeps
By Doug Poffenroth (’83 Busi.)
My wife, Jill, and I went on our first date on 9/17/82, and we have been together ever since. We have been blessed with three young men and a lifetime of great memories. How did it all start?
That is where the true story begins. My wife went to the Alpha Tau Omega spring cruise on Lake Coeur d’ Alene with my pledge brother Clay Westby (’83 Ed.). Jill (’84 Ed.) and Clay had gone to high school together at Capital High School in Olympia. Myself and two of my other pledge brothers had noticed who Clay was with at the cruise and wanted to find out the scoop.
As fate would have it, we found out that Jill and Clay were there as friends and that Jill was not seeing anyone at the time. At that, the three of us got our selling shoes on and tried to sell Clay on why he should set one of us up with Jill. I was fortunate to get the nod.
Our first date at The Coug sparked a love and friendship that has been ongoing for over 40 years. Each day I am not only thankful that she is my Valentine but also my best friend!
On the walk home
By Steve Wuerl (’80 Elem. Ed., ’84 Mech. Eng.)
I dated one of her dorm-floor friends, walked her home from a frat party. Climbed in a window as she left her key in her room. Met her nine years later. Married one year later. Still together 35 years in June.
In the dorm
By Rich Johnson (’99 Comm.) and Tory (Lanpheir) Johnson (’99 Int. Des.)
We met at WSU in February 1996 as freshmen in Stephenson South and started dating in April 1996. We had our first date at Swilly’s in downtown Pullman. We got pulled over because we were “trespassing” at the WSU water tower. We graduated in May 1999 and got married in June 2000. We have been married ever since, and we have lived in three states and five cities, and been to five different countries together. We have two awesome kids, our son Ryer, 17, and daughter Tessa, 13. WSU has and always will be a special place for us and our family. Go Cougs!
Hearts for animals—and each other
By Hannah (Holman) Elliott (’18 DVM)
I met my husband, Tyler Elliott (’16 DVM), at WSU when we were both attending WSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine in 2014. I was a first-year vet student, and he was a third-year. We knew each other from school, but hit things off at My Office one night when he offered to send me study guides for an upcoming exam. We bonded over surgical labs, care of the CVM goats, and lots of study sessions. We both were adamant we were not going to date another vet student when we met. In June, we will be married seven years.
We got engaged that summer before he went on to his first of two internships in equine surgery. We got married in 2017 during my fourth year of vet school at his family’s cattle ranch, then parted ways for our second year long distance. When my husband decided on a career path change to small animal medicine, we moved to Arizona, where we are currently living and working as small animal veterinarians in Phoenix.
All photos this article courtesy their respective subjects.