National Archives romance, and more

Romance at the National Archives

In 1996, while on an 8th-grade field trip to the National Archives in Washington, D.C., sweethearts Matt Whitmer and Leigh Lacy of Springboro, Ohio, found a nook near the Declaration of Independence and sneaked a kiss. The couple later broke up, but began dating again after college. Twelve years later, while revisiting the archives, Matt asked Leigh to marry him. When she said “Yes,” hundreds of visitors and staff members, who had been alerted ahead of time, burst into applause. Allen Weinstein, archivist of the United States, invited the couple into his office, where he read them Robert Frost’s poem “Devotion.”

Recovered Pearl Harbor sailors

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The remains of three sailors who died aboard the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, have finally been identified. Ensign Irvin A.R. Thompson, Ensign Eldon Wyman, and Fireman 2nd Class Lawrence Boxrucker were among the 429 sailors and Marines who perished on the battleship and were buried in one of 14 mass graves in Hawaii. But DNA evidence from relatives recently matched their remains to their next of kin. Eldon, Wyman, and Boxrucker have been exhumed and returned to their families for private burial. “I am thrilled,” said Boxrucker’s 82-year-old cousin, Agnes. “It is just kind of a relief to know he is home.”

The Robell room at Michigan State

When Rich Robell helped his son, Mike, move into room B310 in Emmons Hall at Michigan State University, he was filled with a sense of déja vu. The floor and wall color, the phone number, even the broken window latch all seemed oddly familiar. It turned out Robell had lived in the very same room, one of 8,000 at Michigan State, 30 years earlier when he was an undergraduate. Housing manager Tim Knight said it was the first time in his 37-year tenure that a parent and child ended up in the same room by chance. “I guess it was meant to be,” he said.