A cute text message or even a string of emojis is a daily exchange between couples today, but in 1994, before most portable technology, one couple got creative and wrote love notes to one another in the State Press.
ASU alumni Jennifer and Louis Velasco kept things interesting by using the personal ads in the State Press and sometimes designing scavenger hunts for each other.
“It was that little reminder that 'Hey, I’m thinking about you.' " Jennifer said. "I would get to school and the first thing I would do is look for the State Press stand because maybe there was something special in there.”
Neither one would tell the other when a message or a clue was coming. Anticipating the ad and looking for it became its own daily reminder of what they had together, Louis said.
“I would compare it to text messaging now or Facebook," Louis said. "That’s how we passed notes and sent love letters to each other."
Jennifer and Louis started dating in '93 while they were both attending ASU. The couple met while working together at a restaurant near campus called Flaky Jake's, which was popular among students at the time.
Because they worked near campus and were both full-time students, ASU was a big part of their life at that time, Louis said.
“It was cheap to buy the ad, but luckily The State Press was free because we were so poor back then,” he said.
They would live off of 10-cent burritos from Fry’s sometimes, but that didn’t bother them because they were both working so much and they had each other, Louis said.
One scavenger hunt began with a small note in the personals telling Jennifer to look on the bulletin board of her art class. That clue led to another and another — eventually leading back to Louis’ car where there was a brand new watch he had save up for.
“My sweet prince Louis. … You aren’t going to turn into a frog are you? I love you,” Jennifer wrote in an ad.
They were married in 1994, and will celebrate their 21st anniversary in November.
“You’re a total sweetheart and that’s why I’m marrying you," Louis wrote in one ad. "I knew it since day one!”
Louis served in the both the Army Reserve and the National Guard as a combat medic. While at ASU, he was a member of the ROTC Sun Devil Battalion and studied zoology with a pre-med emphasis and military science.
Jennifer graduated from ASU in 1995 with a fine arts degree. Louis graduated in 1996.
Jennifer worked three jobs when Louis started medical school in 1998 at UA.
“We would hardly ever see each other because he would work from six to nine, seven days a week,” Jennifer said.
Louis was honorably discharged from the Army Reserve as a second lieutenant in 2002. He completed his residency at the Maricopa Medical Center and attained licenses to practice emergency medicine in Texas, Alabama and Arizona.
“She is my pimp,” Louis said, “She manages my schedule since I do so much traveling and she sets everything up with the hospitals I work at.”
Jennifer unofficially retired in December 2006 after 18 years at Discover Card. She coaches softball, skates in a roller derby league and raises their three children.
Kathleen Walsh worked with the couple at Flaky Jake's and has known Jennifer for 30 years.
"They're adorable and they're funny," Walsh said. "Family is so important to them and they just enjoy life, it's really quite endearing."
Reach the reporter at pscottha@asu.edu or follow @sgt_preston on Twitter.
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