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Campus tradition brings together sweethearts
RELEASED: Feb. 14, 2002
DANVILLE, KY-With Valentine's Day upon us, it brings to mind a Centre tradition that is said to have helped bring many Centre students together in matrimony.
Campus legend holds that if two Centre students kiss while standing on the brass College seal in front of Old Centre at midnight, they'll marry after graduation.
Centre graduates Herb and Emily Stapleton met through mutual friends at Centre.
While dating, they liked to climb a tree on the lawn of Breckinridge Hall just to get away from everyone. "Living with roommates had its downfalls," said Emily, then Emily Eicher ’98.
The weekend before Emily's graduation (Herb graduated from Centre in ’97), they headed out to climb their favorite tree. Herb proposed to Emily in the tree that evening and she accepted. On the way back to her place, they stopped and kissed at the seal.
Herb and Emily later married and now live in Huntington, W.Va.
"The tradition is that if a couple kisses on the seal of Old Centre, they'll be married and will live a long and happy marriage," Emily says. "I really don't know how we knew the tradition. It's like much other Centre folklore, it's been passed down through the generations."
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