UHart Love Stories
Steven Rothman '75 and Robin Rothman M'77
“I was a sophomore in the communication department when I met a cute little brunette with the warmest eyes, a smile that lit up the room and a laugh that was musical. It's been 46 years since graduation and our wedding—and nothing has changed. Robin is still the best thing that could have happened to me at UHart.”
Gil Perlroth '53 and Cynthia Radwick Perlroth
“I entered the Hartt College in 1949 and proceeded to meet Cynthia Radwick, also a freshman. Soon after, we became a couple. Cynthia left Hartt in 1951 for NYC. I graduated from Hartt in 1953 and was promptly drafted and ended up in Korea. During that time, we lost touch with each other. In 1957, I moved into Greenwich Village in NYC only to discover that Cynthia was living around the corner from me. We resumed our relationship and married in 1958. Our marriage lasted 56 years until Cynthia passed away. It was an extremely happy marriage. I guess our marriage was one that was supposed to be. Thank you, Hartt”
Jessica Addie '04 M'08 and Tim Addie M'03
Jessica Addie '04 M'08 (formerly Rubinstein) and Tim Addie M'03 met in A complex while at UHart. “We were preparing to be on the same resident assistant staff there in the spring of 2001. We dated for seven years and married in 2009. We live in Connecticut now and have three beautiful daughters.”
Julie Wolfe (Leavitt) '95 and Brian Thau
“Our story began 29 years ago this January. Brian and I were both entering our second semester of freshman year when we met—I’ll never forget seeing this cute boy walk onto the shuttle bus wearing a VERY fluorescent ski jacket (which was in style in the early 90s). We dated for years, on and off, and on and off again; even after college. Over the years, Brian had lived in Florida, the Bronx, and Westchester. I lived in West Hartford and Stamford Conn., and N.J.; yet somehow we've always managed to find each other. I was even married for 14 years, but divorced for five years and we’ve been together, again, ever since. We’ve both come to the conclusion that this is just what’s meant to be.”
Robin Downey-Murphy '90, P'14, P'17 and Vincent (Bing) Murphy '88, P'14, P'17
“My husband and I met at UHart in 1987. We started dating in 1988. My husband graduated in 1988 from Barney and I graduated in 1990 from the respiratory care program. We were married in 1991. We have been married 29 years and it all started at UHart. We have three children—two boys and a girl who are 28, 25, and 19. Our oldest son, Cole, went to the school of engineering at UHart and graduated in 2014 with his bachelor’s degree. He also finished a double master's degree in business/engineering in 2020. Our other son, Kyle, graduated in 2017 from ENHP with a bachelor’s degree in health science and is now in medical school at UConn. Our youngest daughter is a sophomore at UConn.”
(Pictured left to right: Vincent “Bing” Murphy, Robin Downey-Murphy, Heather Murphy, Kyle Murphy, Cole Murphy)
Brittney McCartney '17
“Quràn and I met during the first few weeks of freshman year. I was from Long Island, N.Y., and he was from Worcester, Mass. He wound up asking me out on the phone while I was doing the 10-day study abroad program in London. He transferred to a local college at home, and we would take turns every weekend; either he would come visit or I would go to Worcester for the weekend. After graduating from UHart, I decided to go to Suffolk University Law School. I graduated in May; he moved from Worcester to Medford and now we’re 20 minutes away and plan on moving in together in September. In May, we’ll be celebrating seven years together.”
UHart Friendship Stories
Judith "Judy" Handler '85, Leonor "Leo" Snow '87, and Mark Levesque
"My friend and musical colleague Judy Handler and I are both alumni of the University of Hartford's Hartt School. We met each other at Hartt and started playing music together. Judy hooked up with Mark Levesque, a guitar and mandolin player who had attended Hartt for a few classes but is not an alum.
In 1984, I returned to Hartt to earn a bachelor's in music management and then earned an MBA in marketing at the Barney School of Business in 1987. I had already earned a bachelor's degree in flute performance from another university and was getting divorced. I wanted a degree that might help me secure a job to help support me and my two children.
Judy had moved to Hartford to study with the prominent Italian guitarist who was in residence at Hartt, Oscar Ghiglia. When Hartt had the Gigline, Judy and I were assigned a gig in a town in northwest Connecticut. We enjoyed driving together to northwest Connecticut to this gig and had fun playing and getting to know each other. One interesting feature of our duo is that the combo of flute and guitar has a very attractive and accessible sound for both concerts and background music. There is quite a bit of repertoire written for flute and guitar duos.
After my MBA, I landed the job as executive director of the Connecticut Classical Guitar Society (CCGS). Coincidentally, Judy and another guitarist had started the CCGS and had written a grant to hire an executive director. So, she and I worked together planning programs, hiring guitarists for concerts, etc. We became fast friends through this job and playing more gigs.
In 1994, I started Musical Friends when a small group of my musician friends wanted to play concerts together. Every year, I wrote a grant to a local funding agency and received money to fund two concerts per year. In the meantime, Judy and Mark had met and formed a wonderful guitar duo and were working on interesting repertoire. Musical Friends asked Judy and Mark to join us on a regular basis for one of the two concerts starting in 2005. We have played at least one concert per year since then as well as many gigs.
Judy, Mark, and I enjoyed playing for several years at University of Hartford graduation brunches and homecoming events. Also, we all enjoy learning new repertoire. We explore music from other countries, and Judy makes the most of our arrangements to suit our ensemble."