Robert Hoffmann knew right away when Mary (Shultz) walked into a fraternity house party with a group of four friends in 1978 that he and his friend had to meet them.

“We had a great weekend together so I invited her down for the next party weekend,” he says. When Mary and Robert didn’t talk after that weekend, he invited another girl to come the following weekend.

“They both showed up that next party weekend,” he says. “I was in the dog house, but she forgave me. We have been married 39 years with four children. Our family includes three engineers, a lawyer, a doctor, a Marine officer and seven grandchildren.”

Both mechanical engineering majors, the pair took classes together and loved to hang out. Robert graduated in 1981. Mary graduated in 1982, and they were married that same year.

“I started Hoffmann Brothers Heating, Air Conditioning, Plumbing and Electric,” he says. “Mary retired as the plant manager for the Henkel Corp. in St. Louis. We could not have done it without our live-in nannies. It makes family life easier.”