Couple falls in love while volunteering at HIPOW

Bill and Marsha Pike met 25 years ago volunteering at HIPOW.

Here's a fun story about two people who fell in love while volunteering at HIPOW. First, I’ll give you a little bit of background:

In 1981, Bill Pike and his late wife Mary were HIPOW Chairpersons. Their four daughters attended Monroe. In fact, Bill’s youngest daughter, Julie, graduated in the spring of 1991. Bill was a dedicated HIPOW volunteer and looked forward to assisting George Sundborg with auction set up each year.
In the fall of 1991, a friend of Marsha’s told her about HIPOW. Marsha thought it sounded like a fun event and decided to stop by the office. “I probably surprised them,” said Marsha. “I just walked in and said I wanted to volunteer.”

Now, on with the story:

“Neither of us were looking,” recounts Bill. “We kind of stumbled into each other.”

“Bill was really just there (at HIPOW) to eat donuts,” giggles Marsha. Then she adds, “I remember him looking really cute in his blue coveralls.”

“Back then, we had land lines and the volunteer phone was on my desk. Bill came over frequently to make calls,” explains Marsha. Bill looks at me with a grin and assures me they were necessary business calls. “I had to check in, you know.”

Fr. McGuigan said Mass daily during the two weeks leading up to HIPOW. “We never missed a HIPOW Mass,” says Bill. “Mass gave us a time to reflect and de-stress.”

Marsha agrees, and adds, “I was a new Catholic and really enjoyed Mass. Everyone hugged everyone, so of course I hugged Bill and made sure to be at every Mass so I could hug him again.”

Jo Schlotfeldt and Margaret Zaverl were in charge of auction production. “Seeing Bill and Marsha together really thrilled the rest of us,” says Jo. “They were so cute.”

Jo and Margaret asked Marsha if she would help keep tabs on various tables throughout the night.

“They would send me to this table or that table to double check that the bid sheets and items matched,” remembers Marsha. “Bill stood at one of the tables I was sent to. I introduced myself and suddenly we were holding hands.”

Bill invited Marsha to lunch and the rest is history.
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The couple was the first to purchase HIPOW 2016 tickets. It’s been nearly 15 years since they have attended and they are looking forward to celebrating their 25th anniversary of meeting right here in this special place.

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