Teresa Leich and Jeff Leich

The couple met in 1987 when Teresa Leich was laying in the sun outside of Cedar Village apartments, where Jeff Leich was nearby with his friends. Interested in the conversation, Teresa Leich began to eavesdrop. 

Teresa Leich and Jeff Leich met in 1987, graduated in 1989 and eventually got married in 1990. 

“One of the people (Jeff) was with was really funny, so I just started laughing because you can’t help but listen,” Teresa Leich said. “They looked over at me and were like ‘What are you laughing at?’ and I sparked a conversation.”

She made an impression on Jeff Leich that day, because the next time when she was laying out in the sun, Jeff Leich saw her when he was going to the library to study. He suddenly put his backpack away and began talking to her, until he eventually asked her on a date.

According to Teresa Leich, he was “on a mission” to ask her out.

He took her to Chi-Chi’s, a Mexican restaurant that was popular at the time. They got chips, salsa and margaritas, a combo that would become their classic order. They would also frequent El Azteco, a restaurant that is still popular in East Lansing today, and Sensations, a downstairs disco and dance club that took East Lansing by storm in the 1970s and 1980s.

The couple graduated in 1989 and got married in 1990. They currently live in Shelby Township, in close distance to three other MSU alumni couples. 

“We have so many Spartan friends,” Teresa Leich said. “My neighborhood is pretty tight.”

They have two children that also studied at MSU, a decision that both parents were excited.

“It was just kind of surreal and exciting that they ended up at the same school where (Jeff and I) met,” Teresa Leich said. “We got to go experience it all over again.”

Anna Johnson and Jeff Johnson

Anna Johnson, class of 1991, and Jeff Johnson, class of 1992, have been married for 29 years and together for 34 years. They first met in the Marriott Hotel on M.A.C. Avenue during Anna Johnson’s sophomore year.

The building was split up into two different sides: the office and the hotel. Anna Johnson worked in the office of the Marriott for the company MetLife, and Jeff Johnson worked in the hotel side of the building as a banquet manager. It was common for hotel workers to see Anna Johnson working in her office. 

“A lot of the people that worked at the hotel knew me as the girl in the window,” Anna Johnson said. 

One day, MetLife was holding a sales meeting but Anna Johnson, assigned to a different task, could not attend.  

Three men were looking at her in her office through the back corridor. Jeff Johnson walked up to the men and asked what they were doing, and they told him “none of them had the guts” to talk to Anna Johnson.

Jeff Johnson, however, went up to her and introduced himself. They had small conversation that day. Since then when they both still worked in the building, he would bring her flowers, muffins or any small gift that he could find.

“We just got to know each other while we were working in the same building,” Anna Johnson said. “And then eventually he asked me out and of course, I said yes.”

Their first date was at Bilbo’s, a small-chain pizza restaurant that used to be located near El Atzeco. When they got to the restaurant, Jeff Johnson ordered him and Anna Johnson a pitcher of beer. She “did not have the heart to tell him” that she didn't like beer. 

The couple frequented spots that were popular in East Lansing at the time, such as Landshark, P.T. O’Malley’s, Sensations and another dancing bar, B'Zar.

They now live in Shelby Township with two kids — one graduated from MSU in 2022 and one will graduate from MSU in May.  The couple attends nearly every home game at Spartan Stadium during the football season and they regularly tailgate.

When looking back at meeting Jeff Johnson for the first time, Anna Johnson said she remembers everything being perfect.

“Looking back at it, I would not change a thing,” Anna Johnson said. “I would do everything the exact same all over again.”

Sheila Foote and Howard Foote

Sheila Foote, class of 1964, and Howard Foote, class of 1965, have been married for 57 years. They initially met at a sorority-fraternity party during Sheila Foote’s senior year, where at the end of the event, Howard Foote drove her home. She immediately had a liking for him.

She later ran into his roommate, who was taking groceries home to him. She then put a note in the loaf of bread with her phone number on it.

Ever since then, they've been a couple. They went on dates to Coral Gables — which used to be a bar and dance room — movie theaters and sorority-fraternity parties.

However, dating was difficult for the pair because Howard Foote practiced Judaism while Sheila Foote practiced Catholicism. This was a problem for the couple’s families, and Howard Foote was scared of how his dad would react. 

“When he took me home to meet his mother and father, he did it at a time when his father was at work because he was afraid his father was not going to approve of me,” Sheila Foote said. “When I finally got to meet his dad … he was fine. I sat right next to him (at the dinner table).”

After that first meeting, Sheila Foote converted to Judaism to align with Howard Foote’s practices and to ultimately solve the underlying problems between the families. 

The couple has seen a lot of change in East Lansing since graduating in the 1960s, especially since they visit often. Sheila Foote’s three siblings all graduated from MSU, and she and Howard Foote’s two kids went to MSU and now have two grandchildren currently attending.

“What’s nice is the Beaumont and that whole area is the same,” Sheila Foote said. But besides that, she said, many of the buildings and stores on Grand River have changed in the last 60 years — but the memories of how their love story began, however, will not.