Colonial Love Q & A: Don & Kate

 

Thanks to Don Grossinger and Kate Grossinger, CCAS BA ’73,  for sharing their story!

Where did you meet on campus? We didn’t exactly meet on campus, but rather through a mutual friend, who also was a GW student, at her apartment near Dupont Circle, where many GW students lived. It was September 1972.

What were your first impressions of each other? Don’s first impression of me was that he loved my long, red hair. My first impression of him was that he had this amazing speaking voice, and when I spoke to him he gave me a million percent of his attention as if whatever I was saying was the most fascinating thing in the world.

What only-at-GW moment did you share as a couple? Here’s a unique story. While at GW, Don headed the GW Concert Committee’s security, ushering and stage crews at Lisner Auditorium. In 1972, six months before we met, the Youngbloods gave a concert there which I attended with two friends from Thurston Hall. Immediately after the show I walked back to Thurston, but my friends remained in hopes of getting backstage to meet the lead singer Jessie Colin Young. They were jubilant that as soon as they stepped backstage they were approached by a guy who said “Hi! I’m Jessie Colin Young” and gave them his autograph. OK, so I missed out on meeting a rock star and getting his autograph.

Now, fast forward about 40 years. Somehow during all that time, we never realized that we had both been at that concert. So one evening circa 2012, we were listening to a Youngbloods song when Don told me that he had been working  backstage at that concert when two girls ran up to him looking for Jessie Colin Young. “Hi! I’m Jessie Colin Young,” he had said to them. He gave them his autograph, then one of them said their friend would be sorry that she had missed out by walking back to Thurston.

Tell us about your last visit to GW together or how GW has remained important to your life. GW has remained an important part of our lives as it was so much fun. We remained in Washington for another eight years after graduation with good friends and continued adventures. While visiting from New York recently, we drove through campus and were amazed by the expansion.

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