Paly parents meet

How six Paly parents met and lived happily ever after

posted May 26, 2005

by Becca Chacko of Verde

Becca Chacko

The Guerreros relax in their home.

<b>Medardo and Sonia Guerrero</b>

<i>Parents of Iliana and Melissa Guerrero</i>

Freshman Melissa Guerrero was born in California, but both of her parents grew up in El Salvador. They grew up during a large-scale civil war in El Salvador, when the country was divided down the middle.

"I was working at a sign company and I had a friend who was my wife's neighbor," Medardo Guerrero says of his wife, Sonia. "We met and fell in love."

"It was scandalous," junior Iliana Guerrero says. "My mom was sixteen and my dad was twenty one."

The Guerreros met, and soon afterwards, decided to marry. However, the civil war that was raging throughout the country was creating many problems in El Salvador.

"There was a civil war in my country and the military was getting really bad," he says. "They tried to force me into the military, and I didn't agree with what they were fighting for."

The Guerreros decided to move to America with their young son, Luis. Soon afterwards, Iliana and Melissa were born, and they have been living here ever since.

<b>Becky and Tony Brewer</b>

<i>Parents of Gabe and Sisley Brewer</i>

Senior Gabe Brewer's parents, Becky and Tony, actually attended Paly together. They were in the same grade, and he was the best friend of one of her good friends. In high school, the two knew each other, but did not date.

"I actually had a big crush on Tony in high school," she says. "But we never really offically dated until later on."

The Brewers attended different colleges and kept in touch "more through friends" post high school, according to Becky Brewer. "He was at Florida and I was at San Diego State," she says. "When we both moved back here, that's when we started to date."

When the Brewers reconnected, they soon fell in love and were married. "We fell in love when he took me to Foothill Park."

<b>Paul and Jacqui Kandell</b>

<i>The Adviser and the French teacher</i>

There are many sweet stories about parents falling in love, but few have made a room of stressed, last-night-of-production Verde staff members say "Awww..." as much as that of our own adviser, Paul Kandell, and his wife, Jacqui.

The Kandells, who have been married for 13 years, met at a Jewish Youth Group, when he was 16 and she was 15. Going to high schools seven miles apart, they would see each other at lunchtimes, though the relationship ended after four months.

"She said we were too young to be committed," the Verde journalism adviser says.

The Kandells stayed best friends for the next six years, even while attending different colleges and staying abroad. The Kandells started to see each other again after college. "I came back and spent the summer in Santa Barbara with her," he says. "That summer we got engaged, and she came back to Missouri with me."

Verde would like to cue a collective "Awww..." to all readers of this column who simply cannot stand the cuteness any longer. Ready?

"Well, actually, I still have a crush on her," he says.

<i>Awwwwww.</i>