Cupid on campus: three employee couples who found love and are shaped by the campus community

By Alana McLaughlin

Staff Writer

For three Trevecca employee couples, the Hill has not only been their place of employment but also the foundation of their long-lasting, Christ-centered marriages that have been shaped by the campus community.

This year as Valentine’s Day approaches, three Trevecca employee married couples share their stories of finding and maintaining love at Trevecca.

Peg Cooning and Doug Lepter

Peg Cooning, vice president for university engagement, caught Dr. Doug Lepter’s eye on Valentines Day 2019 at a Trevecca Theatre show. Lepter had recently retired as chair of the Department of Communication Studies at Trevecca, but was still working as an adjunct faculty member.

“I’ve said that Cupid was flying around that night,” said Lepter. Lepter and Cooning, initially, had no interest in playing “the dating game.” Lepter’s first wife, Sammy, passed away in August of 2016. Cooning’s husband, Mike, passed away shortly after.

“We had been married one week short of 45 years,” said Lepter.

For their first date, Lepter and Cooning attended a performance at the Nashville Symphony. Both were extremely nervous.

“We were in one of those boxes with four seats and we were in the back two. She [Peg] went in so that she was sitting behind me. I think she just wanted to sit and look me over,” said Lepter. Lepter and Cooning began dating in 2019 and wed May 2020 on campus. Officiated by President Dan Boone, the “secret” ceremony took place under the Bell Tower in the heart of campus.

“God was up there laughing when he put the two of us together,” said Cooning.

Lepter says that being yourself is the key to maintaining a healthy relationship. For Cooning, the key is communication.

“To me, more than flowers or anything, handwritten notes touch my heart. I have a whole box of cards and notes he has written me,” said Cooning.

Tom and Jessica Middendorf

Tom Middendorf, university provost and senior vice president, met his wife, Jessica, at a church youth revival event. Tom’s father was Jessica’s pastor and Trevecca students served as church ambassadors during the event.

“We did music, went to the park and played basketball, it was really just to show the youth what [Trevecca] could be like,” said Jessica.

The Middendorfs began dating while Tom was a freshman at the university. Tom worked up the courage to ask Jessica out, and they had their first date at the Dairy Dip in Dover, TN.

“We did lunch on our first date. It was fun, but we didn’t eat. We were too nervous,” said Jessica, who works as an administrative assistant for the school of education.

Tom and Jessica wed in early 2000. They fondly recall Trevecca faculty and staff members, like Steve and Jan Harris and Sarah Miller (Johnson), making the one-and-a-half hour drive to Dover, Tennessee for their wedding.

“One of the reasons Trevecca was so good for us is because it was so accepting, it was this family that we had found,” said Jessica.

The Middendorfs’ believe that God is love, and God’s faith guides their love.

“There’s a certain element of how we love one another that I think Trevecca was a big part of because the people around us modeled that,” said Tom.

Craig and Joan Bishop

Craig Bishop, chair of the social and behavioral science department, met his wife Joan at church. Craig spotted her and felt love at first sight.

“I had moved from Florida to Chicago. In Chicago, I visited my sister at the Kankakee, IL First Church of the Nazarene. I saw Joan in the choir and it was love at first sight,” said Craig.

Craig proposed in the fall of 1984, and the Bishops wed in the spring of 1985. They moved to Nashville in 2020, starting their positions at Trevecca. Craig is the director of the Criminal Justice program, and Joan is an administrative assistant and an adjunct instructor for the business administration program.

“I think we’re pleased to have a shared ministry here at Trevecca, but our jobs don’t interact much. Her world is in Boone and mine is over here,” said Craig.

Maintaining independence within a relationship is important to Craig and Joan. While being interviewed, Craig noted how neat it is to have Joan in his office (in Tidwell) because she is normally always in the Boone Business Building.

Joan and Craig believe that the key to long-lasting relationships is to keep God at the forefront.

“God has always been our mediator, but we’ve taken steps, too, to make sure we make time for each other,” said Joan.

The Bishops will celebrate 40 years of marriage in May.