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One of the best parts about going to college, especially an HBCU, is meeting new people. This is where we find our future bridesmaids, godparents to our children, and other lifelong friends. Others are lucky enough to find the love of their lives at homecoming of all places. In a recent interview with the Atlanta Journal Constitution, ‘Spelhouse’ couples share how they found love at their HBCUs.
Adrienne and Lorenz
This love story is over 30 years in the making. Adrienne Willis has no interest in attending an HBCU; she wanted to attend Boston University with the rest of her at-home friends. Although she had her heart set on Boston, her parents had their hearts and their wallets set on Spelman College.
“My parents were very firm and said you can go anywhere you want, but our money is going to Spelman,” she remembered, calling it “the best decision that my parents made for me.”
The pair met in 1986. Willis was an economics major at Spelman, while Lorenz ended up studying psychology. At the time, both were in long-distance relationships with people back home and weren’t looking to meet new people. Willis first saw Lorenz after seeing pictures of him in his dorm room after she and her friend were invited over by his roommate. The two finally connected during a dorm party after sharing a dance that night. They danced at every party together until they both graduated.
“Throughout that time that we were in school, we had chemistry. We liked each other. We smiled at each other,” Lorenz Willis said. “She had a boyfriend. I had a girlfriend, so there were no shenanigans.”
In 1992, the two connected once again, but nothing happened as Adrienne was engaged to be married. Ten years later, they both went on to marry other people but still had a strong connection all those years later. Lorenz’s mother received a Christmas card from a now divorced Adrienne in 2007, and although the spark was still there, Lorenz was still married. The pair didn’t see each other for another ten years until a Spelhouse homecoming in 2017. Lorenz, who was also now divorced, saw Adrienne outside Spelman’s bookstore. It wasn’t until homecoming of the following year that Lorenz finally told Adrienne how he felt.
After all those years of “right person, wrong time,” Lorenz proposed to Adrienne the day after Valentine's Day in 2022. Now in their mid-50s, the pair married in Atlanta last September and share their time between Georgia and California.
Paul and Chelsea
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Most women like Chelsea Jordan didn’t come to college with the intention of looking for a husband, unlike some of her friends. When she got to Spelman, her focus was her degree in public health, and that’s it. If you would have asked Chelsea her plans after undergrad back then, she would have said, “Her five-year plan was to be a rich, single auntie with a puppy who traveled the world.” Now for her husband Paul, that was a different story. Having parents who met in college, fell in love, and were married for over 50 years, Paul pondered the thought of meeting his future wife in college.
The pair met at homecoming through mutual friends in 2015. Paul had been to homecoming each year since graduating in 2008, while it was Chelsea’s first homecoming since graduating in 2014. Chelsea, now a graduate student at Emory University and Paul, a tech consultant, exchanged LinkedIn info and connected on Snapchat after his niece showed him how to use the app.
“At this point, I’m like, How old is this man? Why is someone teaching you how to use Snapchat?” she joked.
The two didn’t reconnect until homecoming the following year. They really hit it off after attending a party that was ultimately a buss. They spent the entire time talking; they had their first date, and the rest was history. Despite their age gap, things for Paul and Chelsea worked out for the best.
They got engaged the day after Thanksgiving in 2022. Paul and Chelsea got married on May 4 of this year and currently live in Vinings, Georgia.
HBCU homecomings have been known to bring people together, and for these couples, they are the place they got another chance at love. For all the HBCU students and alumni still hoping to meet the love of their life, don’t give up; there’s always next year’s homecoming.
