Three love stories that bloomed in The Forest
February 2025 – Every year, Drew University celebrates some of the love stories that began on campus. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Charles “Chuck” Putney C’69 and Linda (Calleo) Putney C’69
Linda Calleo and Chuck Putney first met working in the dish room in the dining hall at Drew. Their relationship was cemented, however, during three years of singing in the Drew Chorale under Professor Lester Berenbroick.
They married a week after graduation and have spent the past 55 years together working, making music, painting, traveling, and serving their community. Chuck worked first in journalism and public relations and then was an independent consultant in grant proposal development. He traveled nationally, teaching workshops on grant proposal writing. Linda was a teacher of special education and later became a small business owner.
In 1978, after short stints in New Jersey and Delaware, they moved to Bennington, Vermont, and took root. Over the years, they were foster parents and later hosted high school exchange students from Turkmenistan, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Thailand.
In recent years, they have also assisted several Afghan women in getting an education in the U.S. They feel fortunate that, through sickness and in health, they have hung together and shared the basic values that have made their marriage last. They have, by the way, been washing dishes together for all this time.
Gurpreet Singh C’15 and Kelsey (Shannon) Singh C’15
Gurpreet and Kelsey met in spring 2011 the ‘old fashioned way’ – the Drew U Class of 2015 Accepted Students Facebook Group. After a few dozen Skype dates, they met up for their first ‘real’ date that June, where Gurpreet asked Kelsey to be his girlfriend. They started college that fall and have been inseparable ever since.
While they never shared a class—Gurpreet studied biology while Kelsey studied political science—they both served in Student Government and attended campus events together every week, including a cookie decorating event in the EC on Valentine’s Day 2012!
Gurpreet proposed to Kelsey in 2018 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The two were married in August 2019 with a wedding party full of Drew alumni.
Kelsey and Gurpreet now live in Reston, Virginia, with their two-year-old son Rohan. They talk to their Drew friends every single day (hey, ‘Squaggles!’), love to cheer on the Rangers whenever they’re in D.C. for a game against Catholic, and can’t wait for their 10-year reunion this year.
Bishop Jeremiah Williamson T’05 and The Reverend Jennifer (Smith) Williamson T’06
In fall 2003, Jeremiah returned to Drew to help with new student orientation. On that first day of Drew Theological School orientation, he noticed a very cute first-year student: Jen Smith. Their fellow students were excited to discover that both were from Ohio and made sure to introduce them.
That introduction led to a friendship that quickly became something more. The something more really took off one Saturday evening. That night, a group of Theo students were hanging out in Jeremiah’s Green Villa Apartments apartment, watching some “Saturday Night Live.” One friend had so much fun that he missed his train home to New York City. It was the last train of the night, so he asked for a ride, and Jen offered. Enticed by the opportunity to spend some quality time together, Jeremiah said he would go with her. They talked the whole way back and started looking for opportunities to talk more. They would look for each other on the path between Green Villa and Drew and catch each other between classes.
Watching football one Sunday, Jen invited Jeremiah to join her on the cross-cultural trip to India that January. He had never even considered that trip but signed up, hoping it would give him the opportunity to win her over. By the time they left for India a couple of months later, they were already in a relationship and had even met each other’s families.
They were engaged that summer and married two years later. They will be celebrating their nineteenth wedding anniversary in May.
During their marriage, they lived in Ohio, Colorado, and now New York, where Jen is a United Methodist pastor and hospital chaplain, and Jeremiah is the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany. They have two children: Oscar (13) and Isaiah (10). They also have a miniature schnauzer named Jarvis. They love talking about their time together at Drew and meeting up with friends from their time there. They often see Michael Sniffen T’05,’15,’19, who was in their wedding, and they get excited every time they hear a Mark Miller hymn.
David Simpson C’15 and Neena (Robertson) Simpson C’14
David and Neena met in between classes at Brothers College in 2011. After sharing information about KUUMBA, Drew’s Pan-African organization, David and Neena became fast friends. After going on their first “official” date in 2013 to the “legendary” Broadway Diner in Summit, they began dating.
From clubs and organizations, Baldwin, Asbury, McLendon, Hurst, RAs, EOS, and service trips to Haiti, David and Neena took advantage of the full Drew experience. Both graduated from Drew and then went on to earn degrees from Rider University. Friend groups merged to friends-turned-family.
Fast forward 10 years later, David and Neena were married in 2023, surrounded by Drew family and friends.
David and Neena currently both work in Higher Education in New Jersey. They love seeing their Drew family in Brooklyn, D.C., and on FaceTime. They are super thankful for all their friends and the staff, past and present, from the student affairs side of the house for making their college experience a memorable one.
