Not only is the University of Regina a place for learning, it’s also a place where love has blossomed. The following four couples met as students at the university during pivotal moments in their lives and unique moments in the school’s history. You never know when the sparks will fly. These love stories are from four different decades across the University of Regina’s 50 years.
Regina catches on: Stephanie and Alvin
Alvin Yau, BA ’07, MPP ’09, didn’t think much of Regina when he moved here at age 19. The Vancouverite had moved to a prairie city that was a fraction of the population of his hometown. Things felt bleak.
“I recall specifically making very disparaging comments about the Regina skyline,” said Yau. My plan was to spend eight months here and then flee.” But the psychology student joined the intramural slow pitch softball team and things began to look up. He made friends and the friendships were strong enough to keep him in the Queen City, especially one with a certain clarinet player, whom he met in his third year.
Alvin and Stephanie got to know each other on campus. They walked the indoor campus route in winter, took a religious studies class together and watched Cougars’ games. They have now been together 19 years. They married in 2011.
Stephanie Davis, B.Ed ‘09 (now Davis-Yau) knew she wanted to be a teacher from an early age. After researching the best post-secondary education program in the province for a high school assignment in her hometown of Melfort, the U of R came out on top. “I've always liked working with kids and I still really love that light-bulb moment when they finally grasp something,” said Davis-Yau, who has taught primary grades for 16 years.
“We met through a friend of a friend,” said Yau. “I was a band geek growing up and it came up that Steph played clarinet and our mutual friend was trying to get her to play for us one night.”
Davis was reluctant. “He said I really didn’t have to. I thought that was kind of nice that he was giving me an out if I needed it.”
When Yau asked Steph on a date, she accepted, though her response was an ambiguous “Suuuure,” so Yau later confirmed with her over MSN Messenger.
“I had to check!” he laughed.
Alvin and Stephanie got to know each other on campus. They walked the indoor campus route in winter, took a religious studies class together and watched Cougars’ games. They have now been together 19 years. They married in 2011.
After 13 years working for government, Yau is now manager of planning and research at Regina Public Library. He found his groove as a student when he pursued his master’s in public policy at the U of R and loved it.
Stephanie encouraged Alvin to join the concert band and he ended up playing alto sax in the group for nine years, well beyond his years as a student.
“It was an important thing in my life and a way I contributed to the community. I’m very grateful to band director Brent Ghiglione for letting me be part of it, even after I graduated.”
The couple are raising their kids in south-east Regina and have embraced community activities. Davis-Yau is a long-time volunteer with Girl Guides and Yau chairs his children’s school community council.
“The city I initially hated has grown to be a place I love and I hope I continue to give back to it,” said Yau.
Laughter sealed the deal: David and Marilyn
David, BA ’69, and Marilyn Goldsmith met as students when the University of Regina was in its infancy.
“It was the University of Saskatchewan’s Regina Campus,” said David. “We were in the College Avenue buildings and only the education and lab buildings had been built where campus is now,” said David.
The Goldsmiths remember the new Wascana campus as a happening place.
David, a first-year arts student and Marilyn, a first-year music student, found themselves in a lounge at the College Avenue campus.
“Marilyn was sitting there and I had never met her. I came in with my bag lunch. We acknowledged each other. Then I got out my food and started eating some celery, ‘Chomp, chomp, chomp.’ She looked at me and I looked at her and we both started laughing. So I married her.”
“We became friends, had fun together and started dating. It was because of that laughter that we realized we could just enjoy each other,” said Marilyn.
At the time, David estimates the university had about 300 students, which meant they got to know mostly everyone. “My student number was R00045 and Marilyn's was R00245,” he said.
The Goldsmiths remember the new Wascana campus as a happening place. They attended school dances and were part of the foreign film society. “I do remember feeling that it was exciting that the U of R was coming into existence and leaving the U of S,” said Marilyn. “It was its own entity. Here we are 50 years later and it’s a well-recognized, well-respected university, with a diverse student body,” said Marilyn.
Leonard Cohen entertained in the classroom building one noon hour,” recalled David. “Hippie culture was happening at the time. The Vietnam War was going on so we met young draft dodgers coming up from the U.S. to attend the U of R.” “There was a big mix of people and I think we were comfortable in all of those groups to some extent,” said Marilyn.
David and Marilyn married in 1967. Over their 57 years of marriage, they have travelled, raised children and organized regular group hiking trips to the mountains. David had a career in government health planning and Marilyn worked at a medical clinic. She was also the organist of Trinity Lutheran Church in Regina and owned her own gift shop at the Regina Airport.
In 2002, the two Reginans moved to Invermere, B.C., fulfilling their lifelong dream of living in the mountains. But Saskatchewan remains a special place for them.
“We feel honoured to have been part of the University of Regina’s early beginning. The next fifty years hold promise beyond our dreams.”
Learning together: Chase and Kewen
Chase Wood, BSc ’12, MSc ’16, and Kewen Wood, MSc ’16, met as graduate students in the University of Regina’s geology department. They taught a class and marked papers together. Chase, a Regina native, was interested in the foods Kewen, an international student from China, would bring for lunch.
“She would come in with something I’d never seen before, like chicken feet, and I would ask to try it,” said Chase. “When we started dating it was really fun because the things I found mundane were new and interesting to her and things that were ordinary for her were super interesting for me.”
“Chase is one of the most open-minded people I’ve ever met in my life,” said Kewen.
“I owe a lot to the university,” said Chase. “I was a reluctant master’s student but I recognized a good opportunity and my supervisor, to her credit, helped drag me, kicking and screaming, through the whole thing.”
Co-founders of Tuzo GeoSurveys out of Calgary, the couple combines their expertise in geology and business (Kewen received her M.B.A. from the University of Calgary in 2023 and also works for ATB Financial) to offer geological survey services.
“Most of our clients are in Saskatchewan because that's where I built my network,” said Chase.
That network building happened because of his professors at the University of Regina. After his undergrad, Chase was encouraged to pursue graduate studies and take part in a research project at Saskatchewan’s only producing gold mine at Laonil Lake.
“I owe a lot to the university,” said Chase. “I was a reluctant master’s student but I recognized a good opportunity and my supervisor, to her credit, helped drag me, kicking and screaming, through the whole thing.”
Kewen’s interest in clean energy research motivated her to study at the U of R. She studied uranium mineralization on a full scholarship. She appreciates the many skills she learned at the school and from the discipline of science.
“My supervisors were great mentors. There are a lot of values they taught us: self-discipline, goal-setting and meeting those goals, being punctual. All of these are transferrable not only in the professional world, but also just in life.”
The couple fondly recall Stir-Fridays, an idea Chase started so he could get to know his fellow grad students in the department. Once a month a student or professor gave an informal presentation about themselves and where they came from.
“I carved my first pumpkin at one of those events,” said Kewen, who also enjoyed seeing a different side of the professors.
As the U of R celebrates 50 years, both Chase and Kewen are thankful for their experiences at the school. They came back to celebrate the anniversary with their old department in April.
“There are moments in your life when there's an inflection point and something really important happens. Saying yes to a master’s degree was a major, major, major moment in my life,” he said. “I also met my wife in grad school.”
“That’s right!” said Kewen. “I was going to remind of you that if you didn’t mention it!” she laughed.
Analogue connections: Greg and Dianne
Greg, B.Admin ’76, and Dianne Swanson’s, B.Admin ’92 connection to the U of R has been strong for decades.
“The university has been a huge part of our lives over time,” said Dianne. Dianne, a retired business owner, volunteers with the Senior’s University Group, an organization promoting continued-learning at the College Ave campus. She and Greg, a retired Regina lawyer, are committed donors. Greg has been president of the Alumni Association, served on the Senate, the Board of Governors and has received an award for service to the university.
“We’ve been to many events throughout the years because of Greg’s involvement,” said Dianne. The couple has seen the university evolve and grow over decades but their story as a couple began in a place on-campus that is hard to imagine these days: the keypunch room.
“The university has been a huge part of our lives over time,” Dianne Swanson
Keypunches—typewriter-like machines in desks—were used to punch programming code onto cards that were fed into the university’s computer, a mammoth-piece of tech that took up a whole room and was less powerful than the average laptop today.
“If your program had 500 lines of code you would have 500 cards to feed the computer,” said Greg, who had a student job in the computer-science department in 1973. Dianne was a computer-science student, waiting for her turn at the machine that Greg was working on. They started talking and hit it off.
A year later they were married. Greg proposed by typing out his question on printer paper from one of the university’s Xerox Sigma 9 computers and showing it to Dianne while they were together one day on campus. This past year they celebrated 50 years of marriage.
Dianne finished her degree in the ‘90s, going to classes part-time, while looking after their three children. She was determined to get her admin degree. “I convocated the same year our oldest daughter graduated from Grade 12,” she said. Just a few years after graduating, she opened and co-owned Cobb Swanson Music, a well-respected sheet-music store on 13th Avenue in Regina, for 22 years.
“All those years managing our finances, scheduling activities and maintaining a household was great training. Combined with an admin degree I was ready to run a small business,” she said.
Greg and Dianne continue their learning at the University of Regina through French classes at La Cite. They were also volunteers when the U of R hosted Congress of the Humanities and Sciences in 2018.
“Except for a few years when Greg studied law at the U of S, we’ve been connecting with the U of R in our lives in some way, which has given us wonderful, long-lasting community connections,” said Dianne.
Due to their generous contributions, a breakout room in the College Avenue Campus is named after them.
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Chancellor Pam Klein
Chancellor Pam Klein surrounded by members of the University of Regina leadership team, cuts the 50th anniversary cake at the As One Who Serves 50th Anniversary Reception, October 2024.