Finding Love in Vermont

Locals share how they met their true love

Christiana Martin

I grew up in New Hampshire, and in 2007 I was busy applying to colleges. When I told a friend from Vermont I’d be going to UV he was excited to initiate me into being a Vermonter. He showed me a YouTube video of a group of guys from Montpelier singing about being from “802.” I watched it mesmerized by the boy with the short haircut and infectious smile.

A few years later, as a sophomore at UVM, I read in the student newspaper that “the group that brought you 802 is dropping their new hit ‘groovy UV.’” I watched the video and could not take my eyes off the same boy with the amazing smile. I showed the video to everyone on my dorm floor declaring my love for this “celebrity crush”. I eventually showed it to a Montpelier native living on my floor who declared that they had “gone to high school with that guy,” and his name was Luke. He said he’d introduce us that weekend at a party if I wanted. I couldn’t believe my luck!

We met March 20, 2009, and were married in July 2014. He and I both are forever grateful for that rap video!

Ellie Stubbs

My husband Gary and I met on the trails at Morse Farm Ski Touring Center in the fall of 2002. This was in October, just before the first season at Morse Farm. Gary likes to say it was love at first sight across the parking lot, as a handful of volunteers gathered to lay mulch and put the final touches on the new ski trails. He was there with his son Twigg, and I was there as an eager participant excited about the new ski trails so close to my home in Montpelier. As we walked out of the woods that afternoon, Gary asked if he could call me, and I said yes. We loved skiing those trails together until the ski center closed a couple of years ago, especially Maple Loop trail where we spent so much time that day. We’re still skiing together 17 years later and were married 11 years ago.

Wayne Morse

Elizabeth Rogers first saw and claimed me at a Capital City Grange meeting in April of 1949. I’d seen her, too, and thought her good looking. A week or two later Earl Witham introduced us at a Worcester Grange meeting; he seated us together at the oyster supper after the meeting. Busy with farm chores, I didn’t take Elizabeth up on an invitation to a Cobble Hill Grange meeting. That June we ran into each other at the Twin City Drive-in Theater. She asked me why I hadn’t gotten up to the Grange, so I went to the next Grange meeting at Cobble Hill. We dated for nine months and married just after her 18th birthday. We cruised along together enjoying each other’s company for over 67 years, the last several in a red Mini-Cooper.

Iris Gage

I met my best friend and life partner, Ed Low, in the beginning of eighth grade at a bus stop in Calais. I was sitting in the school bus and he was running outside to catch it before it left. I watched him through the window and thought to myself “Who is that cute boy who clearly just rolled out of bed?” Little did I know that he would become my one true love.

Alyssa Borowske

I had never believed in soulmates. I thought that the fairy tale One True Love nonsense was just that—sweet nonsense. At 30, with a handful of serious relationships and a Ph.D. under my belt, my view on successful relationships was grounded in statistics and work ethic. And then life happened. I left an unfulfilling relationship, moved back to Vermont on a whim (after more than a decade away), opened an online dating account, and answered a message on Match.com. This particular guy was 3 years younger than me and his profile was bare-bones—I would never have reached out to him first. But his message was thoughtful and he happened to live in my hometown. “Why not one date?” I thought to myself. We agreed to meet the next day. I don’t remember what we talked about when we met, only the feeling of unexpected excitement as I walked home. Six months later we were living together. Four months after that, we were officially engaged with our friends and family asking “What took so long?” A year and a half after our first date, we held the wedding of our dreams, and a honeymoon baby made our whirlwind fairy tale complete. But the biggest, most magical surprise of all is now I know that soul mates and fairy tale love do exist, right here in Central Vermont.

Erin Galligan-Baldwin

My husband and I were matched on not one, but two online dating sites. We tried to meet up several times, but I was living in the Northeast Kingdom, he was in Montpelier, and life (and winter) got in the way. Fast forward a few months later, and we finally connected again—when we both went online at the same time to cancel our profiles. I sent him a message to call me right away, he did, and when I answered the phone we both just started laughing. Good thing we both hated online dating so much or we never would have met. In July we will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.