Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, so we’re sharing some Texas Tech love stories.
Welcome back to the Mailbag.
We're just days away from Valentine's Day, so it seems like a good time to talk about love.
Here at Texas Tech University, we pride ourselves on fostering an educational experience that provides our students with the tools they'll need to be successful in the future. We also take pride in being a place where lifelong friendships and relationships are formed.
Talking around the office, it seems more than a few of us met our spouses in college – including a few at Texas Tech – and we understand that falling in love, for a lot of people, is part of the college experience.
This year, as part of the Centennial Celebration, the university asked Red Raider couples to share their love stories and so far, we've loved receiving them.
So, we're going to share a couple of those Red Raider love stories here in the Mailbag with hopes that more of you will write in and share your own stories with the Texas Tech community.
We reached out to a few people to make sure they were good with us printing their stories and got the OK from a couple of them.
To stay true to their stories, we're going to print them as submitted.
We'll start with:
Ron and Carroll Powell - Tulsa, Oklahoma - Class of 1967
“My wife and I met in a class sophomore year, spring of 1965. Married May 28, 1966. Graduated August 1967. We both had very successful careers. Now married 56 years; 2 children; 6 grandchildren; 1 great grandson.”
When we reached out to Ron and Carrol they shared a few more details.
“We met in class January 1965. We visited a lot January through March 1965 and started dating in April 1965 through the semester. That summer I visited her family one weekend and she visited my family one weekend. In September 1965, we picked up dating again when the semester started. October 1965, I proposed and she accepted. We had a lot of study dates to the Texas Tech library for the next seven months. Our wedding was 5/28/1966. Anniversary 57 is coming up in May 2023.”
Ron and Carrol, we salute you.
Personally, I don't know if my wife will be able to put up with me for 57 years, but if she does, I know I'll be able to say I've lived a charmed life.
Our second story comes from Laura Landenberger. Like with the Powells, we reached out to Laura to make sure she was all right with us sharing this.
She said it's her favorite story to share, so here it is.
Laura Landenberger – League City, Texas – Class of 2002
“Aaron and I (both class of 2002) met early on in our Texas Tech years, probably at a TKE fraternity party, but we were just good friends until after we both graduated. One day, we just realized we were more than friends and we started a love story that is one for the ages. He commissioned into the Air Force in May 2003 after finishing ROTC requirements, and we got married in June 2003 and headed to our first assignment in Colorado Springs immediately after. From there, it was us against the world, and we didn't want it any other way. We had our first son in Colorado, and after 3 ½ years there, we got stationed at Johnson Space Center in Houston. We had our 2nd son there, which completed our family of 4.
“When our youngest son was 2 in 2010, Aaron was diagnosed with melanoma. He underwent surgery and immunotherapy, and all was seemingly well. So the Air Force sent us to our next assignment at Los Angeles AFB. At his very first CT scan in California, we learned that the melanoma had spread to his lungs and was now Stage IV. Over the course of the next few years, he underwent several different treatments to combat this beast. At different times, the melanoma spread to his lungs, liver, brain, and colon. In 2014 he was medically retired from the Air Force and we returned to Houston to put down some roots for our children, and to be near his doctors at MD Anderson.
“I wish I could tell you he beat this beast, but he did give it everything he had. After a couple of years of the right combination of treatments keeping the cancer at bay, eventually melanoma outsmarted the chemo. He ran his last half marathon on January 18, 2015, and that week he went into the hospital because the cancer had returned with a vengeance. He passed on from this world as I held him in my arms on March 1, 2015.
“It is the greatest honor of my life that I was Aaron's wife. I need only look at our children to know that he is always with us. This story may seem like it has a sad ending, but the story goes on. I had the great honor of moving our oldest son into Murdough Hall this past August to attend our precious alma mater for the next 4 years. He would be over the moon that our son chose this school we love so dearly to further his education. Aaron's legacy lives on. I owe so much to Texas Tech for bringing the greatest partner I could have asked for into my life. Fingers crossed our youngest chooses the same path because so far, I love being both a Texas Tech alumnus AND a Texas Tech mom! (As long as he doesn't go to A&M or UT, it'll be okay!)”
We admit, it got a little dusty in the office for a few minutes there, but we're thrilled that Laura has a son at Texas Tech and, like Laura, we're hoping we have another proud Red Raider with the last name Landenberger sometime in the near future.
And if you want to join Ron, Carrol and Laura in sharing your Red Raider love story, we'd love to hear it
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