Alumni return to Athens for friendship, love
Ohio University’s On The Green Weekend serves as the backdrop for countless stories of alumni reconnecting with OHIO, Athens, and one another. Whether for a long-overdue friend group reunion or to retrace the still-familiar bricks to see what has changed – and what hasn’t – there’s always a good reason to return to your second home at OHIO.
ohiotoday.org caught up with two groups of alumni during this year’s On The Green Weekend to learn what brought them back.
Student senators (re)unite
Since their time serving on Student Senate together in the early 1980s, Mark Deaton, BBE ’83, Gregory Moore, BSC ’83, and David Holt, BBE ’91, have remained close friends. To help keep their decades-long bond strong, the trio attends every On The Green Weekend since its start in 2014.
To make the most of their fifth On the Green Weekend, the group took part in some of the weekend’s leisurely events, including the Food Truck Festival and the Athens Brewery Education Tour.
(L-R) Old friends David Holt, BBE ’91; Mark Deaton, BBE ’83; and Gregory Moore, BSC ’83, have attended every On The Green Weekend together since 2014. Photo by Evann Figueroa, BSC ’19, BSJ ’19
“Athens is such a special place, and I always feel connected whenever I am back here,” Deaton said. “The campus changes a little bit from year to year, but the vibe of the place is always the same.”
After graduating, the three friends wanted to extend their connection to other former Student Senate members. They then helped create the Student Senate Alumni Society. The society, one of the University’s nine special-interest societies, allows Student Senate alumni to connect with current students and other alumni through a number of events each year.
“Everyone that I have met through the alumni society is my kind of person – they’re interested in politics, they do social service stuff,” Deaton said. “If we didn’t have the society, I probably wouldn’t have ever met them.”
Renewing their Bobcat commitment
On the evening of May 19, nine couples stood hand in hand, recommitting themselves to each other during On The Green Weekend’s annual “OH, I dO” vow renewal ceremony in the Helen Mauck Galbreath Memorial Chapel on College Green.
“May your love for one another continue to grow each day, and for many years to come,” OHIO Board of Trustees Alumni Representative Ronald Teplitzky said to the couples. “You may now seal these vows with a kiss.”
Richard Embry, BSC ’91, and Lori Embry, BSJ ’91, renewed their vows at On The Green Weekend’s “OH, I dO” Ceremony. Photo by Meagan Hall, BSVC ’20
The ceremony allowed couples the chance to celebrate their love in Athens, the place that brought them together. Before the start of the ceremony, each couple shared their story of how they met through connections at Ohio University.
Richard Embry, BSC ’91, and Lori Embry, BSJ ’91, met their junior year in Lake View Apartments, where they both had been living at the time. They thought the “OH, I dO” Ceremony was the perfect way to commemorate their upcoming 25-year wedding anniversary.
“They say college is the best 4 to 5 years of your life,” Lori Embry said. “And to be able to share that with somebody and then take it into the real world is really neat.”
The couple’s time in Athens did not end after graduation. Their two children, who are both current Bobcats, sat in the pews as the Embrys renewed their vows.
Lori Embry explained how ecstatic she was after learning her second child would attend OHIO. She said it gives her and her husband the perfect excuse to come back multiple times throughout the year.
“Once you are a Bobcat, it becomes who you are as a person,” Richard Embry said. “I don’t know of any other school where people have that connection. It’s not only a connection to the University, but also the community.”