Centralight

THE FAMILIES JASON + CATHY It���s dangerous to propose to an empty stomach It was a blind date, but as he watched the young woman approach his front porch, Jason Constantine, ���01 M.A. ���03, realized he had seen Cathy (Deskin) Constantine, ���02, before. Cathy had starred as Anne Frank in a CMU production the year before. ���I remember sitting there and thinking, ���Anne Frank is really cute,������ says Jason. ���But I thought she must be a senior, to have the lead. I was just a sophomore. She was totally out of my league.��� THE BRANNANS Six decades of CMU history There���s been a Brannan on CMU���s campus ��� either teaching or attending ��� for nearly six decades. Sam Brannan, ���59 M.A. ���62, and Carol (Musselman) Brannan, ���66 M.A. ���70, met on campus in 1961 when Sam was the graduate assistant for freshman Carol���s trigonometry class. Turns out Cathy was just a very talented freshman. ���But I am totally out of his league,��� Cathy jokes. Jason made a good first impression that summer of 1999. The next few months theater major Cathy and music major Jason went to a lot of plays and concerts and hung out at The Malt Shop, ���beating the snot out of each other at air hockey,��� Cathy says. Jason Constantine, ���01 M.A. ���03, and Cathy (Deskin) Constantine, ���02 They both remember the first time Jason told Cathy, ���I love you.��� It happened on her really ugly couch at The Forum apartments. Sam Brannan, ���59 M.A. ���62, and Carol (Musselman) Brannan, ���66 M.A. ���70 ���Finally he blurts out, ���I love you!������ she says. ���And I responded with the very eloquent, ���What?!������ Their whirlwind romance started once the class was over, and by the time Carol finished her sophomore year, they were married. She recalls lots of dates at Jon���s Drive-in ��� in Sam���s car loaded with her dorm friends. ���Neither of us had been looking for a serious relationship,��� Cathy says. ���To cross that line to ���I love you��� was kind of a scary prospect. But when I thought about it, I realized that���s what I felt, too.��� ���He was so nice to take everybody,��� she recalls of her husband, who passed away in 2009 after 46 years of marriage. Carol graduated from CMU in 1966 and went on to a 31-year career working at Park Library. Jason proposed a year after they met on his favorite nature trail by the Chippewa River. He had the ring in his pocket. The Brannan���s kids, Tim and Lisa, both earned M.B.A.s from CMU. And Tim carried on the CMU romance tradition, meeting his wife, Michele, there. Jason was unusually quiet that night. Cathy was worried. What was wrong? But Cathy wasn���t thrilled about a nature walk ��� she was hungry and wanted to go eat. Jason tossed rocks in the river, waiting for the right moment. Meanwhile, Cathy was wild-eyed starving. When Tim blew out his Achilles tendon playing basketball and was in a cast for nine months, Michele helped take care of him. Finally, Jason got down on one knee and said, ���Cathy, look at THIS rock.��� ���We were destined for each other,��� he says happily. They married in 1991, the same year Michele earned a master���s in audiology. Tim later earned his M.B.A. at CMU in 1997. ���She squeaked out a yes, and we drove to The Embers ��� that���s where my parents got engaged,��� Jason says. They were married two years later, two weeks after Cathy graduated. Tim has been on CMU���s faculty as a professor in teacher education and professional development for 12 years, continuing another family tradition ��� both his dad and Michele���s dad were CMU professors. Looking back, they say CMU was a great place for romance. Now daughter Katelyn, a high school senior, is planning to attend CMU to carry on the tradition. ���I was about ready to kill him,��� she says. ���Everything is right there, so it was easy to run into each other, to meet for lunch, to walk each other to class,��� Jason says. ���We could be together.��� 10 centralight spring ���13 Will Katelyn find love at CMU, too? ���Oh,��� says her grandmother Carol, ���wouldn���t that be neat.���

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