Please be patient as this section grows. We have much more to share.

ABOUT FRAN
Fran is 28 years young. She grew up in Zionsville, Indiana and went to the University of Dayton in Ohio for two years where she and Chris met. After 4 majors at UD, she was still undecided. In the summer of 1994, she transferred to Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana to pursue a love of plants and design and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Landscape Architecture. She's currently a Landscape Architect for O’Boyle Cowell, Blalock and Associates in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She spends much of her free time scrapbooking, gardening, cooking, hunting for antiques, and taking photographs. Fran also shares Chris’s love of film and good Thai food.

ABOUT CHRIS
Chris, also 28, was born in Aurora, Illinois but grew up in Middlebury Indiana and went to the University of Dayton where he majored in English. He met Fran there in 1993, in the end of their freshman year. He left school in 1996 to help with his family’s design firms located in Middlebury, Julius Barth and Associates and Pearl Design, where he is currently working as Operations Manager. Chris enjoys designing and working with computers and has a special interest in all things Macintosh. He loves independent, foreign, and classic films and is interested in art, music, technology, and literature. He also shares Fran’s love of the garden and nature.




HOW WE MET:
Chris's account:
All new U.D. students are given a copy of the New Student Register, a yearbook of the new freshmen class, affectionately known as the “meet book” (and somewhat less admirably known as the “meat book”). Chris immediately noticed that while his Barth listing was missing (possibly submitted past the deadline), there was another Barth on campus. And she was beautiful. He wanted to meet her. But it would have to wait until later in the year.

After many failed attempts to meet Fran, including some which helped to spawn his friendship with Brian Schultz, Chris decided to take a more direct approach. One evening, while picking up dinner in the Kennedy Union, he spotted Fran buzzing about the cafeteria, downing Pixie Sticks and waiting for pizza. Suddenly thinking that pizza sounded like a good idea, he walked up to where she was waiting. He said, “Are you Fran Barth?” to which she replied, “Yes, I am.” “I’m Chris Barth,” he said and she excitedly threw her hands in the air before jumping into his arms, hugging him. “Barth Barth! Barth Barth!” Her sugar buzz added to her general excitedness over this discovery and he was amused when she grabbed his hand and dragged him around the cafeteria telling her friends. When she announced her find to Brian, he told her that he already knew Chris and that they were friends (to which she seemed mildly suspicious). After that, Chris tried to bump into Fran whenever possible and with the help of Brian, they became good friends.

Fran’s account:
I thought Chris was a God from the moment I met him.
(editor's note: Fran has not endorsed this account)

WHEN WE GOT ENGAGED:
April 17, 2002

HOW IT HAPPENED (view pics here)
Fran’s account:
Chris proposed on Saint Patrick's Day! In my mind, I had thought that if the next 5 holidays pass and he doesn’t propose, I was going to be MAD. Well, he did it on the 6th. Saint Patrick’s Day! Ever since Valentines Day I had been asking every other day...bugging him...and he wanted it to be a surprise. He knew if he had taken me somewhere (especially on a plane) that I would know right away. So he got about 10-12 of our friends from U.D. to go back to Dayton where we first met for a mini reunion/celebration of St. Patrick's Day and a concert of a band we all like.

The week before we left I told him I thought that I didn't want to go, but he started to panic and ended up getting a few more females to go to help entice me. We celebrated Saturday night like rock stars and got up Sunday morning to go to campus and eat brunch at the Student Union. That is where we first met (in front of the pizza/Belgian waffles station). Once there Chris said to me, '"Do you remember this spot?'" I said, "Yes..." turned around and proceeded to look at the Belgian Waffles. He said, "Let's reenact when we first met." I thought, "OK, he's being kinda weird and controlling (when he is usually quite laid back)...but OK."

So he then handed me a bunch of pixie sticks, which is what I had when I first met him, and asked me to turn around and eat them. (OK...I started to get freaked out now...he was moving me around like a stage prop and all I wanted was a Belgian waffle!) But I did it and that's when he said, "Are you Fran Barth?' and when I turned around to say yes he was on one knee, asking me if I would marry him. All of the lunch ladies and 18 year old college students were clapping. I was so shocked that I had to ask him 3 times if this was for real.

It was really nice and special to have so many of our old college friends there with us. He even got one of them to videotape it from afar to catch our reactions. To top it off, Chris had gotten me out of work the next day. So we went back to my parents in Zionsville only to discover a big party for us at my parents house.

Our friend Kelby's account:
Ever vigilant, waffle-grillin' KU staff were blinded by the light as we joined our hero, Barthman (editor's note: Chris), in yet another adventure. The stage was set. Baked goods danced on the senses as we walking through the door. Though the holiday be green, our man-o-steel appeared ready and experienced, and after months of foiled attempts he proved his resolve and skill for the task at hand. Friendly UD breakfast crowdlings, yet unaware of the historic proportions of this event, were witness to the entire spectacle.

The scene: Bamboozeled and bedazled, Wonder-Barth's (editor's note: that would be Fran) rock-sensing laser vision was no match for Barthman's keen sense of stealth (and relentless play-by-play planning). With powers averted, marriage-crazed, but ever polite about it, our heroine graciously accepted (though, in interviews afterwards, couldn't remember any details nor the polished words of our hero). Luckily, being endowed with great courage and stregth, and secret-keeping powers, Katethemate filmed the whole thing. KU, the movie, opens this July.