HHPR Love Stories

February 23, 2023
Ben (BS '99) and Jamie Dudley (BS '99)
Ben and Jamie Dudley

"Jamie and I met our sophomore year at Baylor and started dating. Our Junior year Jamie decided to become a Church Rec major and about 2 weeks into the school year I decided that sounded way more interesting than what I was currently doing (failing Greek class). So I went to see Dr. Connally and he allowed me into the program. I dropped every class I had and switch it all up. Jamie and I had the joy of taking every class together the last two years of college and had a blast! We have been happily married for 23 years and have two sons, Nolan, 11, and Griffin, 8. I wouldn’t trade any of those experiences at Baylor for the world. Nothing prepares you for a future life together like learning how to sail a boat in the Brazos river together."--Ben

 


Gabe (MPH '20) and Meagan GarMelo (MPH '22) (Outdoor Adventure)
Gabe and Meagan GarMelo

"Gabe graduated May 2020 and I graduated May 2022 from the MPH program with a Community Health concentration. We met while working together at the Baylor Marina in 2015 during undergrad, fell in love, and got married in 2020. With a shared passion for the outdoors and getting involved locally to create a more equitable Waco, we started a non-profit in January 2021. It’s called GTG Outdoors and the mission is to advance health equity across historically underserved and underrepresented populations through inclusive outdoor experiences for the communities within Central Texas. Today we continue our work with GTG Outdoors while also working full time jobs here in Waco." --Meagan

 


 Dr. Andy Meyer (Associate Professor of Sport Foundations) and Dr. Reneé Umstattd-Meyer (Professor of Public Health and Associate Dean of Research)
Renee and Andy

"Andy and I moved to Texas in July of 2010, were married on July 17th and both began our Baylor careers that August, me as an assistant professor in Public Health and Andy as an adjunct professor. While our love story did not begin at Baylor, our marriage story mirrors our Baylor story. We have been blessed to work across the hall from one another for the first several years, co-mentor students, guest lecture for one another, collaborate on research projects, serve on committees, and celebrate the growth of our family as part of our Robbins story. If you see us at Dia, Christmas on 5th, or at Penland, you will probably also see our two daughters skipping alongside us! We have been thankful to celebrate many of our blessings alongside Robbins colleagues across the years."--Reneé