Still High School Sweethearts
Only an estimated two percent of high school sweethearts get married, yet these three local couples still say “be mine” this Valentine’s Day: let’s celebrate The Myers, the Bolons and the Blairs!
A.J. and Mary Myers “probably played together on the playground” at Montrose Elementary School when they were kids but did not know one another, recalls Mr. Myers. Mary Christensen was a student there, but her husband was enrolled in a nearby Catholic institution.
On September 6, the couple will celebrate their 55th wedding anniversary.
A.J.’s family moved to South Bexley when he was a high school freshman. One day at Bexley High School, Mary was sitting in math class when A.J. happened to walk by. She immediately took notice and said to a friend, “Who is that? I think he has a nice butt!”
Mary worked the concession stand at the Bexley swimming pool in the summer of 1964 “because A.J. was a lifeguard.” For his part, A.J. recalls, “I saw this cute girl at the ticket counter and eventually gained the confidence to ask her out.” Their first date, on December 26, 1964, was at the prestigious but defunct Christopher Inn.
The Myers are the parents of four adult children, three girls and a boy. The quartet graduated from Bexley High School, although none of the Myers’s ten grandchildren have or will graduate from BHS. Rather, they are scattered in Gahanna, Dublin, northeast Ohio, and North Carolina.
During their lengthy marriage, the couple lived in three different Bexley homes, including 705 Montrose Avenue, where Mary’s family moved when she was seven years old. Later, they lived 16 years in the Bexley Park home where A.J. spent his formative years. According to Mary, that home was a Myers-occupied residence from 1959 to 2008. Because of the extended connection the family has with that abode, it has earned the coveted status of being labeled “The Myers House,” she says. In Bexley, having a home informally linked to a family by name is the ultimate sign of long-term belonging to the community.
Now that the couple lives in Eastmoor, what Mary says she misses most about living in Bexley is the “feeling of security” she enjoyed. “The Bexley Police Department is wonderful and one reason why Bexley is such a special place.”
David and Jill (Gurwin) Bolon both grew up in Bexley and graduated from Bexley High School in 1982 and 1984, respectively. When he returned to Bexley from boarding school his senior year, it was as if the “bad boy was back in town,” says Jill, with a smile in her voice. Conversely, she describes herself as “the naïve girl who wouldn’t hold a boy’s hand.”
One day, early in that school year, a friend confided to Jill that “David had a crush” on her. She knew who he was because David played baseball with Jill’s brother Scott.
The couple was inseparable during David’s senior year at Bexley, but he left to attend the University of Cincinnati in the fall of 1982. Still, he says, “I came back every weekend to be with Jill.”
After Jill graduated from BHS, she attended The Ohio State University. “We dated on and off while I was at OSU, which was good for us,” she says. However, the distance soon wore on the couple, so David eventually transferred to OSU himself.
After college, Jill moved to Chicago for work, and David soon followed. She returned to Columbus, which was when the couple agreed to get serious again. David moved back to town, too.
The Bolons got engaged on a ski trip with friends in 1991. Although David described his soon-to-be wife as “sick as a dog” that evening, he persuaded her to go out to dinner. Their friends were waiting there, excited to cheer the couple’s impending announcement.
“Then I went to bed,” recalls Jill.
They were married on September 26, 1992. Their reception was held at Winding Hollow Country Club and was “like a huge Bexley party. Like a reunion between my class and David’s,” says Jill.
“The bar bill was more than the wedding,” says David, laughing.
The couple are parents to three daughters, whose ages range from 25 to 30 years old. The trio all graduated from Bexley High School.
The Bolons agree they never considered not living in Bexley upon marriage. “We thought it was a great place to raise a family,” says David. Over the years, both he and Jill have enjoyed having their families in the neighborhood.
“We both loved Bexley and its schools. We are also both still friends with our high school buddies,” says Jill.
“We had 169 in my (Senior) class, and I knew everybody,” says David, the CEO and Principal of The Bolon Company, a local real estate brokerage/law firm.
Susie and Brad Blair did not necessarily meet in Bexley, but their love affair started in the neighborhood.
“We met at the Jewish Community Center and Tifereth Israel Synagogue,” says Susie, nee Schottenstein. Brad grew up in Eastmoor while Susie has been a lifelong Bexley Lion. The couple were in the same grade but in different classes, she says. “But we really developed a relationship at BBYO (B’nai Brith Youth Organization) meetings on Tuesdays and at the JCC.”
The couple “shared a group of friends and we’d get together on weekends” with them, says Susie. She notes her childhood abode was considered “the home” for their friends, and many wonderful memories were made during those times.
Upon their 1974 BHS and Eastmoor graduations, Brad attended Ohio University while Susie went to Ohio State. He graduated from OU in three years, returning to Columbus to attend dental school at OSU during Susie’s senior undergraduate year.
“I saw him at High Holidays right at the beginning of the school year, which was his first year of dental school,” says Susie. According to Brad, that meeting led Susie to invite him over for dinner some night soon. When the anointed night arrived, “I had to bring my own food!” laments Brad, laughing at the recollection.
Why?
“She lived with six girls, all on diets. Instead of spaghetti, they ate spaghetti squash!” says Brad.
“We saved our calories for beer later,” joked Susie.
The couple had discussed marriage, but Brad had made it clear he would not get married until he graduated from dental school. “So, I waited,” says Susie. They became engaged at The Refectory restaurant in the Fall of 1979.
The Blairs married on June 15, 1980, which was also Father’s Day, Susie’s OSU graduation and Susie’s parents’ wedding anniversary. “It was a crazy weekend,” recalls Susie.
The Blairs are the parents of two adult children and two grandsons, aged four and 18 months. While they lived in Pittsburgh for the year of Brad’s dental residency and in Columbus briefly when they returned to the capital city, it was always their intention to raise their family in Bexley.
The neighborhood was attractive for several reasons. First, the couple wanted to live near their large families, including grandparents, siblings, their spouses, nieces, nephews, and cousins. Another huge consideration was the quality of the Bexley schools.
The couple seamlessly listed some of their favorite Bexley memories, including the 4th of July parade and related festivities. They also praised the city’s proximity to the Alum Creek Trail, a paved bicycle path the Blairs join on Clifton Avenue behind St. Charles High School.
“I feel safe in this community. We all watch out for everybody. After October 7, even non-Jews came up to me to ask how we are,” says Susie. Brad agreed. “Living in Bexley is like living in a small town next to a big city.”
