Married life

According to statistically unsound evidence collected by nonscientists at the Yale Alumni Magazine, if you want to get married at Yale you should attend the Divinity School. As we note in our article on Yale weddings, on-campus ceremonies are extremely rare. Still, of eight campus-wed couples we found, three were YDS alumni—way out of proportion to the size of the YDS alumni body. Our groundbreaking conclusion: divinity schools value sacramental events.

We didn’t print these courtship stories to analyze them, of course. We printed them because they’re an optimistic pleasure to read on a spring day. But we were also interested in what this fairly random sample of Yalies went on to do after their weddings. Several of them shared that information.

Lyndsey McMillon-Brown ’19PhD and Charles Brown ’19PhD. They’re working on dissertations, and they’re also working, Lyndsey writes, “to increase the participation of minorities and girls in STEM.” Between them they are board members and/or cofounders of the National Society of Black Physicists, Graduate Society of Women Engineers (Yale chapter), and Yale League of Black Scientists, a grad student group. And here’s something Lyndsey failed to mention to us: last November she received a Dean’s Emerging Scholars Research Award.

James Lockman ’89 and Rori Myers Lockman ’92. James writes: “Rori has a full-time job as a volunteer and mom” to their three sons. Among other things, she leads a Boy Scout group, serves on the board of her synagogue, and “wrangles the chaos around the house.” He’s the manager of the Digital Media Services team at Adobe Systems and secretary of the Yale Science and Engineering Association. Also, “the whole family makes maple syrup each spring.”

Ben Benedict ’73, ’76MArch, and Heidi Humphrey ’75, ’78MFA. Ben teaches architecture at Williams College and has a solo practice. Heidi owns the graphic design firm Dot Four. They live at the Red Truck Farm in Vermont.

Oby Ballinger ’08MDiv and Javen Swanson ’09MDiv. They are both pastors—Oby with the United Church of Christ, Javen a Lutheran. They’re active in ISAIAH, a community group “that organizes people of faith to advocate for racial and economic justice in Minnesota.”

Jane Hu ’09 and Nathaniel Clark ’09. Jane is a freelance science journalist and Nathaniel a rock-climbing instructor. They live in the Seattle area, so naturally they’re frequent backpackers and climbers.

Diana Carroll ’08MDiv and Sarah Lamming (exchange student). Diana and Sarah are also pastors, both Episcopalian, both at churches in Maryland. Diana’s ministry emphasizes “extending an inclusive welcome to those who have not always felt welcomed in church.” Sarah is working on a doctorate at Virginia Theological Seminary. And they have both “embraced the vocation of aunthood.”

Leigh Anna Reichenbach ’89 and Fritz Reichenbach ’88. Leigh Anna, “a full-time mom and volunteer,” is also cowriter and coproducer of a five-woman musical, Join the Club. Fritz’s company, Healthios, recently “partnered with the Singapore Exchange to take venture-backed companies public on SGX.” So the couple sold their house in Illinois and moved to Singapore: “We jumped in with two (four?) feet.” They had “put [their] wanderlust on hold” for 16 years, Fritz writes. “But it was urging to shine. We’re having fun discovering Asia.”

These aren’t the first families to prove that Tolstoy was wrong. “Happily ever after” takes all kinds of different forms. We wish them all the best.