It was a dark and stormy night…wait, wrong story. Let’s try again…
On July 20, 1991, in the small city of Eastlake, Ohio, Leigh-Anne Criswell and Philip Dennison tied the knot and set out on the road to Matrimonial Bliss. (Without a good map I might add and, you know, gas station attendents get peeved these days when you ask for directions on reaching it; but I digress…)
Leigh-Anne had been a resident of Mentor-on-the-Lake, Ohio, for eighteen years when she met Phil, who, as an army BRAT, had lived all over the world from Missouri to Arizona to Germany to Ohio. It was in Ohio that he and Leigh-Anne met.quite by chance.
With a residence in Madison, living at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea and visiting Eastlake and Mentor, while running errands with a couple friends, Phil ran into and met Leigh-Anne at the Great Lakes Mall (in Mentor). It was quite a coincidence they met. Phil had stopped at a t-shirt shop in Eastlake to pick up an order of shirts for his fraternity and then gone to the mall with his friends to grab a bite to eat.
One of those friends just happened to be Leigh-Anne’s best friend from high school, Jen and her then boyfriend, Phil’s frat brother and friend, Jim. Now Leigh-Anne, in a strange twist of fate, just happened to be at the mall replacing a pair of shoes that had been accidentally ruined that day during lunch (for those with morbid curiosity for details, the heel broken off one of them) after picking her mom up at a local garage.
The meeting occurred when Leigh-Anne’s mother recognized Jen sitting at a table in the mall food court. Leigh-Anne and her mom sat down for a few minutes to chat. Jen introduced her to Jim and Phil and the two girls chatted. Nothing monumental happened, but later…
That evening when Leigh-Anne had gone home and Jen, Jim and Phil had returned to college, Leigh-Anne received a phone call from Jen. She told her that Phil wanted to go out on a date with her and asked if she was interested. Leigh-Anne had just come out of a long-term high school romance and had resigned herself to the idea that she’d never date again. “Was he the cute one?” Leigh-Anne inquired of her friend. (Very tactful considering Jen’s boyfriend was the other fellow!) Jen said yes, indeed, Phil was the cute one (guess she slammed her own taste in guys there), and Leigh-Anne agreed to go out with him.
The double date was set for Friday, May 12th (1989). Jen, Jim and Phil joined Leigh-Anne for a church dance (yes, CHURCH and yes, DANCE–the mind reels doesn’t it; he MUST’VE loved me at first sight, eh?). He even brought me a beautiful bouquet of daisies–what a romantic guy!!! Afterwards they went back to Leigh-Anne’s house and the foursome (not in a sexy way) chatted and laughed (and laughed and laughed) until 2:30 in the morning.
Jen spent the night at Leigh-Anne’s and Jim went back to Phil’s home in Madison to grab a few hours sleep. Come 8:00 Saturday morning, the guys were back at Leigh-Anne’s for breakfast. It was then that Phil asked Leigh-Anne if she would come back to Baldwin-Wallace with them for “May Day.” Phil was on the rowing team for his fraternity. She almost said “no,” but she couldn’t resist his “pleeeeease” (which still gets her into trouble occasionally!) 
Being an upright, proper, 19-year-old still living at home, she had to check with her mom first. Not only
did mom give permission to spend the afternoon at B-W, she said Leigh-Anne could spend the night in Jen’s dorm and drive back Sunday morning for church.
Leigh-Anne watched Phil and his team row then (after Phil got cleaned up) they went to dinner with Jim and Jen and some of the other fraternity brothers and their girlfriends (a fun and rambunctious group to be sure!). At dinner Leigh-Anne tried to find out just what Phil WOULD do for a Klondike bar, but it was only their first date (day two) so he declined his answer. They played pool at the student center and talked in Phil’s dorm room and listened to a tape of his band until midnight (with the door open, of course).
Then, after a snack from the local Burger King (pre-vegetarian days), Leigh-Anne went back to Jen’s dorm room for a quick night’s sleep.
Sunday morning Jen, Phil and Leigh-Anne went to church together (first date, day three) followed by pizza at Leigh-Anne’s house. That was the beginning of their romance. Eleven years later (as of today NINE of them as husband and wife!) they’re still laughing (and more) together…all because of some t-shirts and a chance meeting. Leigh-Anne has since learned what Phil will do for a Klondike Bar, but its privileged information!
