Phil and Jill Gattone
Phil (‘85) and Jill Gattone (‘85) met on the porch of Sigma Chi fraternity during their first week of college in 1981. Little did they know that 30 years and four kids later, they would still be two best friends very much in love.
Phil was a Sigma Chi, and Jill was a Chi Omega. The two remained together through the course of their four years, leading up to a fairytale proposal senior year when the two of them were presidents of their respective greek chapters.
“I lived in the balcony room at Chi Omega my senior year, where Phil was a house boy, when I heard men singing outside,” she said. “As I stepped out on the balcony, Phil was climbing up with a rose in his mouth to propose, while his fraternity brothers sang ‘Sweetheart of Sigma Chi.’”
The Gattones currently reside in Washington, D.C. where Jill works as a registered nurse at Marymount University’s Health Center and Phil works as president and CEO of the Epilepsy Foundation of America.
“We will always have a special place in our hearts for Bradley University and the amazing friendships and experiences we had together,” she said.
Barbie Adler
Barbie Adler (’93) may not have known what she wanted when she came to the Hilltop, but she’s now in the business of helping others find what — or rather, who — they want.
Starting in the Academic Exploration Program, Adler found her eventual niche in Bradley’s public relations program. From eight college internships to two full time jobs, Adler gained all the skills she needed to create Selective Search, a high-end matchmaking firm that helps both men and women find partners for life.
“It really caters to marriage-minded individuals,” Adler said. “We help people that thought they’d never be back on the market because they’re widowed or divorced or are just so career-oriented that they had to put their personal lives last.”
The offline firm is nothing like Tinder or Match.com, services that may be more familiar to college students. With programs starting at $25,000, Selective Search instead uses in-person intensive interviews to find the perfect match, leading to the firm’s 87 percent success rate.
“When you get older, your social circles decrease,” Adler, a Pi Beta Phi and former Derby Darling, said. “You don’t have the bar scene anymore; you have more responsibilities. Many do not have the time or access to find a quality person.”
Adler’s own love story may not have begun on the Hilltop, but she said her college career definitely helped pave the way.
“I’m happily married, and I actually married a client,” she said. “I never thought that would happen when I started the company, but it’s rewarding to say I’m a success story of Selective Search. He’s the best thing that has ever happened to me, and everything at Bradley really helped me set my future so bright.”
If Valentine’s Day has you in the mood to help others find love, an internship with Selective Search may await you. Adler said she tries to have one Bradley intern each summer, and those interested should email their résumé to info@selectivesearch.com.
Connie and George Burek
More than 30 years ago, a graduate assistantship landed MBA student Connie Burek (’84) with an offer she couldn’t refuse: a proposal for a lifetime with George Burek (’84), a fellow intern and MBA student.
The spring break engagement surprised coworkers of the couple, who had kept their relationship under wraps.
“Every week, Connie had fresh flowers on her desk,” George said. “No one knew where they came from because I was always the first one in there.”
News of the proposal soon spread to a class taught by former head of the MBA program, John Wholihan, who claimed responsibility for bringing the couple together.
“We had [Wholihan’s] class that evening and mentioned we had gotten engaged,” Connie said. “A rare thing happened: Dr. Wholihan actually let us out of class an hour early so that we could all go out to the bar and have a drink to celebrate our engagement.”
Later that year, the couple graduated and married in Peoria. Three decades later, they still feel ties to their Hilltop home, where George teaches management and leadership classes and two of their four kids are pursuing degrees.
That connection is felt especially through their second daughter, MBA student Allison, who even had the same professor as her parents for her first graduate school class.
Anna Marie Hahn and Jack Gebert
A rained-out campus event in fall 2012 landed then-senior Anna Marie Hahn (’14) at the St. Joseph Newman Center’s karaoke night where she would meet future fiancé Jack Gebert, a sophomore at the time.
“There was a new group of people that I didn’t know yet, so I gave them a tour,” Anna, a Newman Center student leader, said. “Jack was in the group. We were talking about music, and we really connected on that.”
A mutual love for “Of Monsters and Men” eventually evolved into love for each other.
“We started off as friends, and then we started dating—but very intentionally,” Anna said.
“I remember there was a moment pretty shortly after Anna and I started dating, and she straight up told me, ‘At the end of the day, I don’t ‘need’ you,’” Jack, a current senior mechanical engineering major, said. “I really feel like that set the tone for a very mature relationship that was focused more [seriously]. It’s true that at the end of the day, we don’t ‘need’ each other. But every little bit of my day is made better by having Anna as a part of my life.”
After dating for nearly two years, Jack got the “thumbs-up” to propose from Anna’s parents.
At the highest point in southern Wisconsin, Holy Hill in Hubertus, Jack’s October proposal made the couple feel like they were on top of the world.
“I knew I was going to propose to Anna, but I had not planned 90 percent of it,” Jack said. “I didn’t know when I was going to do it or where I was going to do it. I’m usually a planner, so with this event, I totally rolled more spontaneously.”
A courtyard with a statue of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, who is known for becoming a nun at just 15 years-old, presented Jack with the perfect place.
“I related to her story of knowing what she wanted to do with her life at a very early age,” Jack said. “I can definitely see myself in her a little bit by knowing what God’s calling me to do at an early age.”
With Bradley students and alumni at their sides, the couple will get married in August at St. Mark’s Catholic Church, just a stone’s throw away from campus and the Newman Center, where Anna and Jack first met on that rainy day three years prior.
