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| | Its always the first question, so here is the story...
It was October 1997 and Evan, who was living in North Carolina (read what he was doing in the bios below) was on the phone with his high school friend (and x-girlfriend), Laura. In an effort to encourage a visit from Evan, Laura, who went to U. Mass Med School in Worcester, mentioned that she had two 'really cute' roommates. One of those roommates was Nina Ellen Kottler. So, Laura suggested that Evan email Nina and get to know her.
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| You can read Evan's first email and Nina's actual response right below. How could either resist the other....and, so the phone conversations began. They talked and talked and talked. Some conversations lasted until dawn.
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| One night, the two talked until Nina's morning alarm went off (Evan wasn't setting alarms at the time - what a great job that was). Over the week of Thanksgiving, 1997, things heated up. At one time, Evan threatened to get off the phone and drive straight to Massachusetts. See the excerpt from Evan's actual thanksgiving week phone bill shown below.
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Nina and Evan met by phone, then by email and then by photos. Nina was sort of shy sending two photos without a clear shot of her face (but one showed off the rest of her). Evan was a bit more bold sending an entire photo album with past photos and predictions of photos for the future. You can see some of the photos they saw below by moving your mouse over each of the descriptions.
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'Love at first fuzzy sight'
First Picture Evan Saw of Nina
Laura told her to send this one
Second Picture Evan Saw
(she is wearing something)
Finally shows her face
First Clear Shot Evan Sees
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Together At Last
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If he could overcome this....
First Picture Nina Saw of Evan
Featured in album sent to Nina
First Picture Evan Sent to Nina
(actually one of seven)
Can never be too safe
Another Entry in the Album
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| After the emails, the calls and the photos, there was no stopping these two from meeting face-to-face. They planned a romantic, exciting and truly incredible 17-day, 11-state first date. Does that peak your interest? Did they go through with it? Find out by linking to our 'First Date Page.'
But, you may first want to read their bios below:
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| Hi. I'm about 10 years old. I was born in October, 1968 and grew up in this house in Sudbury, MA with my older brother, Barry, and dog, Daisy. (gold refridgerators were really in style)
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| Well as you can see, I am well ahead of my time, learning to design web pages in 1982 at the age of 8. I was born in January, 1974 and have lived here in Newton, MA with my older brother, Harley since I was 3.
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| OK, I'm in college now. Lincoln-Sudbury High was fun, but nothing compared to the good times here at Emory University in Atlanta. Yeah its hot, but we have fans. I'm majoring in Math and I'll graduate in 1990. I'm also in ADP Sorority; I get to play football, soccer, tennis and softball.
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| Well, I too made it to college, but I had lots of steps along the way (Pierce, Meadowbrook, BB&N, Choate). I've had fun here in New York at Columbia getting my economics degree and so much more. Too much going on, too little space - read about my college years in my full bio.
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| I'm all done with school now, well not exactly. I just got my M.S. in applied math (USC & NC State) and am now working on the Patriot Missile System at Raytheon Company (I wonder if they will ever use them?). Its a cool place and they have a flying club where I got my pilots license.
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| I love this game. Two days after graduation, I moved here to Hickory, NC to broadcast minor league baseball games. I've traveled the state, broadcasting for the Crawdads, Warthogs, Bats, Eagles and Fighting Christians. I've worked for the Panthers, done sportscasts, written for the Charlotte Observer and covered sports for national radio networks.
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| On occasion, I come across some spare time. I've been pretty busy since I decided to go back to school to get my Medical Degree (Wellesley College Pre-med and UMass Med). But, I took some time this year (1997) to bake a cake for my brother's wedding.
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| If my work sounds exhausting, look what I'm doing for fun. I'm some where in Philadelphia (11/99) completing my sixth marathon. By the way, I have moved north to be closer to my family and this gal I met, and to work as a securities analyst.
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| I'm down in Macon, Georgia (speaking of hot - its JULY) visiting a guy I met...well, you know the story. We share a lot of interests, this is one of them, although as you can see by my swing, I'm still learning.
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| Returning to Boston has been cool. Its given me a chance to actually sit in a seat and just watch baseball as a fan. You know, before I broadcast games, I worked as a vendor at Fenway (my photo - thats me - made National geographic) and at Madison Square Garden.
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| I've graduated medical school and am beginning my intern year at Worcester Medical Center. Its a brand new hospital, five minutes from home, where I will be broadening my knowledge of general medicine. Next year the two of us (I'm marrying that 'guy' in September) are headed to San Diego, where I will begin my four year residency program at UCSD. After that, a year-long fellowship will complete my radiology training. In 2006, after 31 years of training, I will be a practicing radiologist!
| I have been so lucky; I've had so many cool jobs and opportunities. I've been dabbling in web design and will be starting some internet businesses; I see even more possibilities there. I'll juggle finance, sports, broadcasting and web design together and some how make millions, too. If I could spend every moment with Nina, run a hedge fund and publish an investment newsletter during the day, oversee my two internet companies, while doing some webdesign in my spare time and broadcast the Padres games at night, I figure I'll be pretty happy.
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| To understand the story of this proposal, we must first go back to the first few months of their relationship. Nina and Evan had been spending night after night pouring out their hearts to each other over the phone. They had still never met face-to-face, but were already dreaming of the day that they would be together. Around 3 am, one night late in November ('97), overwhelmed by the moment and his emotions, Evan asked "If I were to show up with a ring today and ask you to marry me, would you say yes?"
Impressed by the idea that Evan could drive 14 hours, find and buy an engagement ring and then find the apartment (he didn't even know the address) and ask the most important question of his life, Nina passionately replied "yes."
Evan reluctantly passed up the opportunity, but promised himself to be prepared for his next chance. Just a few days later while leaving the supermarket, Evan was presented with a way to remedy 'the ring' situation. There was a vending machine with 100's of plastic frogs, 100's of rubber balls and one small ring. It was perfect. He placed two quarters in the machine and on the first try, he got the ring. He held on to the ring until a day a few months later when he was with Nina. It was not the time to ask her to marry him, but it was time for him to show her that he had truly fallen in love with her. Nina cherished the ring, wearing it on frequent occasions and keeping it in a precious place in her bedroom the rest of the time.
 Then the time came. Nina and Evan had picked out the 'real' engagement ring and Evan was simply waiting for the ring to arrive at the jewelry store, so that he could go through with his well-planned moment. The plan was to arrive at the emergency room where Nina was working and wait behind a curtain for Nina to come take care of the unknown patient - It was going to be so romantic. But, it never happened. The ring was delayed and Nina's emergency room rotation came and went, before Evan could get the ring.
Is it really about the way its asked or what is felt? So, the weekend after the e.r. rotation, Nina and Evan spent the entire weekend together doing nothing. It was true quality time. Overwhelmed by that incredible feeling that Nina was the girl with whom he wished to spend the rest of his life, Evan made a spontaneous decision.
Shortly after the two had gone to bed, Evan arose and snuck off to the dresser where Nina left the 'supermarket ring'. He creeped to the side of the bed and kissed the sleeping Nina on her forehead. Evan knealed to the ground and began to tell Nina each and every emotion that he felt. He then presented the ring and asked "Will you marry me?"  Nina's arms flew around his neck, she gave him a huge kiss and said "Yes!" The rest as they say, is way too private to write on this web page. | |
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