True love, fiancée draw Saga chef to True love, fiancée draw Saga chef to Hillsdale
Katherine Timpf
Issue date: 3/11/10 Section: News
While a lot of students can't wait to leave Hillsdale, Richard Gelatt could not wait to come here. Is he crazy? Nope. Just crazy in love with his fiancée sophomore Mary Angerer.
"Partway through my first semester freshman year, we were trying to do the long distance thing and we both hated it," Angerer said. "I asked him if he would be willing to move out here, and he said, 'Sure,' and I said, 'Great because I have a ticket for Thursday.'"
The pair met while working at a restaurant together in New Jersey three years ago. Angerer had another boyfriend at the time, but for Gelatt, it was "love at first sight." Angerer had to move to Hillsdale to come to college, and Gelatt followed her just 10 weeks later.
"Everyone that I know was like, 'Are you really just going to get up a leave?' They were like, 'You shouldn't move there, you will never get a job. It's a lot of risks just to be with your fiancée.'"
They both admit it was difficult for Gelatt to get a job. Since they did not have a car at the time, he walked for 12 miles searching for employment and eventually finding it at Pizza Hut and Wal-Mart. Not having a car meant that Gelatt had to walk for an hour and a half to get to Wal-Mart for work and then another hour and a half to get back home. Now, Gelatt works as a chef at Saga, Inc., which he said he likes much more.
Angerer said she went through some difficulties of her own to be with Gelatt - including judgments from others about the couple's difference in age: he is 32, and she is 20.
"I know a lot of people who frown upon it... but I also know people who are very accepting," Angerer said. "I like it a lot because he's more mature than somebody my own age, and I think I've always been a little bit more mature than my age."
Gelatt said he does not consider the age difference a problem at all, either.
"At first, I was more nervous about what people would think... but we talked to our pastor back in New Jersey, and he said, 'I don't see why you would have a problem.' I never had plans like, 'Oh, I'm going to wait until I'm 30 and then find a nice 20 year old,'" he said, laughing. "Actually, most of my past relationships have been with older girls."
Gelatt said that his fiancée's younger age isn't the only thing that has set her apart from his past girlfriends. Normally, he would never consider moving for a girl. In fact, he said one of his past relationships ended because that girl wanted him to move to San Francisco with her.
Angerer and and Gelatt plan to get married on May 8, 2012, after Angerer graduates. Then, Gelatt said he will move wherever Angerer chooses to go to graduate school. After she finishes school, the situation will reverse: Gelatt will finish school while Angerer supports him.
Angerer said she does not mind supporting Gelatt in the future any more than he minds it now - which is not at all.
"When she gets a speeding ticket or something I get a little frustrated," Gelatt said, laughing. "But otherwise, that's how a relationship works."
"Partway through my first semester freshman year, we were trying to do the long distance thing and we both hated it," Angerer said. "I asked him if he would be willing to move out here, and he said, 'Sure,' and I said, 'Great because I have a ticket for Thursday.'"
The pair met while working at a restaurant together in New Jersey three years ago. Angerer had another boyfriend at the time, but for Gelatt, it was "love at first sight." Angerer had to move to Hillsdale to come to college, and Gelatt followed her just 10 weeks later.
"Everyone that I know was like, 'Are you really just going to get up a leave?' They were like, 'You shouldn't move there, you will never get a job. It's a lot of risks just to be with your fiancée.'"
They both admit it was difficult for Gelatt to get a job. Since they did not have a car at the time, he walked for 12 miles searching for employment and eventually finding it at Pizza Hut and Wal-Mart. Not having a car meant that Gelatt had to walk for an hour and a half to get to Wal-Mart for work and then another hour and a half to get back home. Now, Gelatt works as a chef at Saga, Inc., which he said he likes much more.
Angerer said she went through some difficulties of her own to be with Gelatt - including judgments from others about the couple's difference in age: he is 32, and she is 20.
"I know a lot of people who frown upon it... but I also know people who are very accepting," Angerer said. "I like it a lot because he's more mature than somebody my own age, and I think I've always been a little bit more mature than my age."
Gelatt said he does not consider the age difference a problem at all, either.
"At first, I was more nervous about what people would think... but we talked to our pastor back in New Jersey, and he said, 'I don't see why you would have a problem.' I never had plans like, 'Oh, I'm going to wait until I'm 30 and then find a nice 20 year old,'" he said, laughing. "Actually, most of my past relationships have been with older girls."
Gelatt said that his fiancée's younger age isn't the only thing that has set her apart from his past girlfriends. Normally, he would never consider moving for a girl. In fact, he said one of his past relationships ended because that girl wanted him to move to San Francisco with her.
Angerer and and Gelatt plan to get married on May 8, 2012, after Angerer graduates. Then, Gelatt said he will move wherever Angerer chooses to go to graduate school. After she finishes school, the situation will reverse: Gelatt will finish school while Angerer supports him.
Angerer said she does not mind supporting Gelatt in the future any more than he minds it now - which is not at all.
"When she gets a speeding ticket or something I get a little frustrated," Gelatt said, laughing. "But otherwise, that's how a relationship works."
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