Long before there was JDate, JSwipe and other dating sites and apps, there was … The Associated. Sometimes, volunteering and community involvement comes with a bonus. That was certainly the case for the following couples who all felt they met their beshert at an Associated related event many years ago.
Robin and Mark Neumann
Robin first noticed Mark at a Super Sunday event that her mother had encouraged her to attend. At the time, she was living and teaching in Howard County and knew nothing of The Associated. Mark, already involved in The Associated through Young Leadership Council (YLC), lived in Federal Hill and attended Super Sunday as part of his volunteer work.
Robin N. – “There was a singles event in the [Baltimore] Jewish Times, and my mother called me and said, ‘you have to go to this event.’ It was actually Super Sunday but was billed as a singles event as a way to get young singles to attend. I saw Mark and thought he was cute and thought, ‘I’m going to sit next to him.’ So, I followed him into the big room, but he was just standing around, so I finally had to take a seat. Mark ended up sitting next to me.”
“The funny thing about this is that I hate making phone calls. I was just there for the singles event.”
Mark N. – “Our first date was that night. We went to dinner later that evening.” Mark and Robin dated for about a month and didn’t see each other again until eight months later when they ran into each other at a happy hour downtown. According to Robin, “that was it.”
They married in 1993 and have three children.
Hillary and Jonny Lewis
One could say that the Lewis’s made a catch of a lifetime. They began their relationship playing on a co-ed softball league based out of the Rosenbloom Owings Mills Jewish Community Center (JCC).
Hillary and Jonny both attended Pikesville Senior High School — their family homes were in adjacent neighborhoods — but because Hillary was four years younger, their paths never crossed until many years later.
Hillary – “Before Jonny and I actually met in person, I had met his sister who told me that she was going to set me up with her brother. But Jonny never called.”
In 2000, as fate would have it, Jonny and Hillary were assigned to the same softball team and they quickly became friends, seeing each other on the field and going out for food and drinks with the rest of their teammates after games.
They didn’t officially start dating until after the softball season ended.
Jonny – “My first impression of Hillary was thatshe obviously was attractive, friendly and very nice. People would probably still say the same thing today.”
Long before there was JDate, JSwipe and other dating sites and apps, there was…The Associated. Sometimes, volunteering and community involvement comes with a bonus. That was certainly the case for the following couples who all felt they met their beshert at an Associated related event many years ago.
Hillary – “He was extremely nervous about proposing. We got engaged, three years later, on a Friday. The night before he was out with a friend who thought he might have to take Jonny to the hospital with angina because he was so nervous. As soon as Jonny got to my house, before we even left to go out to dinner, he asked me to marry him.”
Johnny and Hillary were married in November 2003.
Robyn and Mark Brody
Hillary and Jonny Lewis aren’t the only ones to find romance at the Rosenbloom Owings Mills Jewish Community Center (JCC).
Robyn recalls the time she first met Mark at the JCC during Mitzvah Day. Mark had recently moved to Baltimore from Pittsburgh in the hopes of becoming more involved in a strong, Jewish community.
Robyn B. – “We both participated in Mitzvah Day at the JCC, making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the hungry and homeless.”
Mark B. – “I had made a conscious decision to move to Baltimore, so it was important to me to get involved in the Jewish community. After someone dragged me to a bowling night, I started to attend more Associated events.”
It wasn’t until Mark decided to form a running, walking and volunteering club, several months later, that Mark called Robyn.
Mark B. – “I basically was just calling every single person that I knew and had remembered that Robyn had given me her number. We very quickly became close friends.”
After three years of dating, the Brodys got engaged on top of Federal Hill overlooking the harbor in Baltimore.
Mark B. – “Here’s the reality of life. We started dating. And then we blinked. And now we just had our fourth Bar Mitzvah.”
Robyn B. – “We got married and within 40 months had four children. All of our kids are one year a part.”
Tammy and Fred Heyman
Shortly after meeting each other at the softball games, the Heyman’s learned they worked well as a team in other areas of life.
As Tammy recalls, Fred was part of the Purple Softball team the very first year that a mutual friend of theirs formed the league through the Rosenbloom Owings Mills JCC. Although she did not play, Tammy often was invited to watch the games and became a frequent spectator.
Fred – “We started running into each other at social engagements – starting with the softball games. I became more active in The Associated activities, such as the Blum Seminar, a premiere young adult event at that time. Tammy had already been heavily involved.”
Tammy – “As a young, single mom at the time, The Associated really kept me grounded and sane. Fred grew up in Baltimore. I did not – I was from Pittsburgh. It turns out that the friends that I had made were all Fred’s friends from childhood. We developed a mutual group of friends that were all pretty much rooted in Associated events.”
Both Fred and Tammy say that they knew within the first or second date that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together.
Fred – “We got engaged in March 1998 at Pierpoint Restaurant. By coincidence, we were the only people there that night. Tammy thought I rented out the whole place.”
Tammy – “There was wonderful chemistry between his family and my family.”
Fred and Tammy got married in May 1998. They have two sons.
Tune in to our podcast, Pull Up A Chair, at associated.org/beshert to hear about another great Associated love story.
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