{"106881":{"#nid":"106881","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Tech Employees Find Love on Campus","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn honor of Valentine\u2019s Day, we decided to highlight four couples on campus who fell in love here \u2014 and managed to maintain the spark over the years.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDebbie and Robbie Rice\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDebbie, director of information technology for Enrollment Services, and Robbie, a mechanic in Facilities, have been together for five years. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlthough Debbie had known Robbie since 1992, he didn\u2019t ask her to dinner until 2007. Initially, she said no \u2014 she thought he was too young. But Debbie reconsidered and accepted. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAlthough I wasn\u2019t sure we would have enough in common to have a 15-minute conversation, we sat at the Flying Biscuit Caf\u00e9 and talked for more than three hours,\u201d Debbie said. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShe knew it was meant to be the first time she visited his home and he was cooking dinner and handed her a favorite drink. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI knew that Debbie was the one when she went to a conference, and I realized that I didn\u2019t want to ever be without her,\u201d Robbie added. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe two agree that the best part of having a spouse on campus is having a built-in carpool buddy \u2014 especially since their commute is more than an hour each way. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EColleen and Scott Riggle\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EColleen, assistant dean and director of the Women\u2019s Resource Center, and Scott, an application developer in Student Affairs, got together five years ago. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlthough the two had chatted quite a bit, it was hard to find time for a date because they lived on opposite sides of town. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe went to lunch one day at Rocky Mountain Pizza, which was our first official date,\u201d Colleen said. \u201cHowever, our first dinner date was after attending the Women\u2019s Center production of Eve Ensler\u2019s the \u2018Vagina Monologues.\u2019 It was his first time seeing the production, and I knew that he was a keeper at that point!\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThey realized it was time to make things official when Colleen was selected to go on the Oxford Student Abroad trip as a group leader. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt was then that we knew that we never wanted to be apart again,\u201d Scott said. \u201cIt was, and to this day has been, the longest we\u2019ve ever been apart.\u201d \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd the two have a few Tech traditions they enjoy sharing. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe really loved going to Junior\u2019s for breakfast, but our new tradition is running the Pi Mile race each spring,\u201d Colleen added.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJudy and Mark Reese\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJudy, an academic advisor in the College of Management, and Mark, a senior facilities manager in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, went on their first date 11 years ago. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe two had met but hadn\u2019t seen each other for years when one day, Mark just started thinking about her and decided to give Judy a call. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt was a coincidence,\u201d he said. \u201cJudy was about to call me because she was having car trouble and needed a ride home. I started talking, one thing led to another and here we are.\u201d \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELike all of the other couples, the Reese\u2019s think one of the big advantages of working together is saving on parking and gas \u2014 and your commute is more entertaining. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAlso, by working at the same place, you understand what the other\u2019s work day is like and what each of you do,\u201d Mark added.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJeanne and John Balsam\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJeanne and John, who both work in the Electronic Systems Lab at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), have been together since 1977.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe two met when John came to work at the Engineering Experiment Station (EES), now known as GTRI. Jeanne was a student assistant who graduated soon thereafter and stayed at EES as a research scientist.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur first time out of the office together was for a Tech football game,\u201d Jeanne said. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAfter dating for a while, John asked Jeanne to move to Boston with him, and her response was \u201cNot if we aren\u2019t married.\u201d So, John proposed on New Year\u2019s Eve. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur relationship is full of Tech traditions,\u201d Jeanne said. \u201cWe have season football and basketball tickets and enjoy tailgating and going to the Wreck Homecoming Parade \u2014 we drove our 1967 GTO in this past year\u2019s parade. We\u2019ve also participated for several years in the Georgia Tech Auto Show.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn honor of Valentine\u2019s Day, we decided to highlight four couples on campus who fell in love here \u2014 and managed to maintain the spark over the years.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"In honor of Valentine\u2019s Day, we decided to highlight four couples on campus who fell in love here \u2014 and managed to maintain the spark over the years."}],"uid":"27445","created_gmt":"2012-02-06 15:59:15","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:11:37","author":"Amelia Pavlik","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2012-02-06T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2012-02-06T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"106891":{"id":"106891","type":"image","title":"Robbie and Debbie Rice","body":null,"created":"1449178188","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:29:48","changed":"1475894723","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:45:23","alt":"Robbie and Debbie Rice","file":{"fid":"193985","name":"debbie_robbie.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/debbie_robbie_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/debbie_robbie_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":203668,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/debbie_robbie_0.jpg?itok=DserDkfK"}},"106911":{"id":"106911","type":"image","title":"Scott and Colleen Riggle","body":null,"created":"1449178188","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:29:48","changed":"1475894723","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:45:23","alt":"Scott and Colleen Riggle","file":{"fid":"193986","name":"colleen_scott.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/colleen_scott_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/colleen_scott_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":246250,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/colleen_scott_0.jpg?itok=U4WW0hg8"}},"106931":{"id":"106931","type":"image","title":"Mark and Judy Reese","body":null,"created":"1449178188","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:29:48","changed":"1475894725","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:45:25","alt":"Mark and Judy Reese","file":{"fid":"193987","name":"mark_judy.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/mark_judy_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/mark_judy_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1015697,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/mark_judy_0.jpg?itok=TlYO2CSs"}},"106941":{"id":"106941","type":"image","title":"John and Jeanne Balsam","body":null,"created":"1449178188","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:29:48","changed":"1475894725","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:45:25","alt":"John and Jeanne Balsam","file":{"fid":"193988","name":"john__jeanne_football_2010.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/john__jeanne_football_2010_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/john__jeanne_football_2010_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":496723,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/john__jeanne_football_2010_0.jpg?itok=tjW-9NHq"}}},"media_ids":["106891","106911","106931","106941"],"groups":[{"id":"1259","name":"Whistle"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"23001","name":"campus couples"},{"id":"9722","name":"colleen riggle"},{"id":"23011","name":"debbie rice"},{"id":"23061","name":"jeanne balsam"},{"id":"23071","name":"john balsam"},{"id":"23031","name":"judy reese"},{"id":"23041","name":"mark reese"},{"id":"23021","name":"robbie rice"},{"id":"171181","name":"scott riggle"},{"id":"22991","name":"valentine\u0027s day"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:amelia.pavlik@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAmelia Pavlik\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications \u0026amp; Marketing\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-385-4142\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}