The Bride & Groom
| Bobby and Leah met on 15 September 2001 at a "get to know your neighbor" party hotsed by UC Santa Cruz grad student housing (GSH), where they had both just moved in at the start of the Ph.D. study. The picture on the left is their first together, and it was taken at GSH. For hundreds more taken since then, browse our photo album. At first, Leah wasn't so sure about that Bobby, but she eventually came to her senses. |
Though they had their first kiss on Bobby's birthday (unbeknownst to Leah), Leah would not agree to see Bobby exclusively until Jan 2002. Just after their fourth anneversary, on 21 Sept 2005 (again Bobby's birthday, but this time Leah was the wiser) Leah finally got tired of waiting for Bobby to pop the question, and bravely did the asking herself. Thank goodness. Since then, they have gone on to finish their Ph.D.s, and moved to Cambridge, England, to do postdoctoral work.
Leah R. Johnson
Leah grew up all over the place. She was born in GA, but traversed the USA 2.5 times before the age of 8 before ending up in Herndon VA, near Washington, DC. There she spent a ridiculously large proportion of her time participating in band (Go Pride!), choir, and drama (where she was widely lauded for her portrayal of Lola in the musical Damn Yankees). She studied physics at the beautiful College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. However, after the hurricane and blizzard that swept through Williamsburg during her junior year, she decided that she'd try someplace with nicer weather for graduate school. So she picked up and moved across the continent to Santa Cruz. There, she met Bobby, discovered that she actually prefers biology to physics, did lots of singing with the Santa Cruz Chorale, and eventually got her PhD. | 
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Robert B. Gramacy
| Bobby grew up in "the valley", a.k.a. the 8-1-8. During his formative years on Hiawatha street he married each of the three George sisters at least once. The rest of his valley days are a bit of a blur smattered with hockey, baseball, and soccer games, and Virtual Band. At university in Santa Cruz (UCSC) he discovered that he wasn't really a jock, but nor was he a theater nerd, or band geek. Not for want of trying! Instead he it became obvious that he was a hacker who preferred to tan in front of a CRT rather than outside while riding the waves of Steamer's Lane. He finished with degrees in Computer Science and Mathematics, eventually going on to graduate school at UCSC where he met Leah, the southern belle gone tired of all that humidity. Five years later he was Dr. Bobby, and engaged without even having to propose. |
The Bride's Maids
Courtney: The little sister. Depending on who you talk
to, looks JUST LIKE Leah, or NOT AT ALL like Leah. Mostly people see
all that blond hair and just get really confused (or if they're boys,
they chase her around). Courtney finished her Master's degree in family
and marriage therapy last year, and is now living in NC working with
troubled teens.
Rhiannon: Childhood friend. When Leah and Rhi first met,
they didn't like each other at all. But eventually they figured out
that they were kindred spirits, and they've been inseparable ever since
(they were even roommates in college for 3 years). Rhi is now living in
Richmond working at the Federal Reserve Bank, and she's getting married
in September.
Jennifer: The fashionista. Jen and Leah met during
rehearsals of "Kiss Me Kate" in HS. Jen tried for years to instill Leah
with some kind of fashion sense. She's still trying. Congrats to Jen
and Dan (and Naomi) on the new addition to their family!
Jessica: The grad school roommate. Jess was another
crazy physics major at UCSC. They bonded over gardening and Mr. Darcy
(*sigh*). Jess is busily doing research for her dissertation at CERN
in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Groom's Men
Ryan: The brother. Met Bobby when he was born and brought
him a T-shirt that dispensed bubble-gum as a "hello-gift", straight from the womb.
Ever since, Ryan has served as Bobby's punching bag, never once complaining.
Ryan now lives in Budapest
where he is earning a living by teaching Hungarians to speak English, and plotting
his revenge.
Daniel: The neighbor. Bobby was too cool to actually
interact with his new neighbor across the street. That is, until he realized
that Dan was a Dodger fan.
They would go on to invent Sockey: a great game combining
hockey and soccer played in hallways; and Buntball, the best bedroom
baseball game ever invented. They eventually give up household
sporting to become rock stars in Virtual Band.
Dan currently lives New York City where he is the deputy director of land use and
senior policy advisor to
Manhattan burough president Scott Stringer.
Eric: The filmmaker. In the spirit of thinking up strange games,
Bobby and Eric figured out how you could play football
with baseballs and mitts during phys-ed at
Granada Hills High. Eric currently
coordinates the rendering
for Pixar Animation Studios. If he doesn't add
a photo to his
IMDB page soon, then Bobby is going to put
this one in instead.
Mark: The matchmaker. Mark takes credit for Bobby and Leah's happiness,
coming into their
lives just as they were coming into each other's. And the credit
is well deserved, indeed. After all, if not for Mark, Leah and Bobby may never have fallen love
with Apple computer. If not for Mark they could be showing you their
Wow right now! Mark works as a software
engineer for Silver Spring Networks, in San Mateo, CA.
Robert B. Gramacy & Leah R. Johnson -- 2009