Hope, persistence can eventually lead to love

Bill Becker -- Haverford College and Washington University law school graduate, Chicago lawyer and general counsel for Harpo Inc. -- admits he was a novice.

A Glen Ellyn resident since 1972, Becker lost his wife Maureen to a malignant brain tumor on Thanksgiving Day 2007. Their daughter Cathy, a Glenbard West High School graduate, was living in California, and Becker was lonely.

With Cathy's and his late wife's blessings, Becker, 66, entered the dating world, with little success.

"I dated spinster sisters of friends and associates and had one miserable date after another," he recalled.

Then he joined an online dating service. Amid profiles dubbed "Soft Lips" and "Blonde Bombshell," the "incredible smile" and photos of Laurelea Seuss, 57, captured his attention. "And when I read the profile, she sounded like a person I wanted to meet," he said.

However, to a man whose first grandchild is due in March, this dating business was unfamiliar.

"I did not know at all that there were rules of the Internet: that you e-mail for a while; then she suggests you might call; then when she's convinced that you're not the Boston Strangler, you meet in an open place like a park," Becker said.

So when he called and asked, "What are you doing tonight?" Seuss's silence was deafening.

"I'm in Chicago; where are you?" he persisted.

"Evanston," she said.

"I can be there in 45 minutes to go to dinner," he said.

"Maybe tomorrow night," she answered. "Call me."

He did.

"I had a big lunch. I'm not very hungry," she told him.

"That's OK," Becker answered, "you can watch me eat."

"He was quietly persistent," Seuss recalled. "He knocked down my objections one by one."

An 18-year employee of the Chicago Teachers Center, Seuss directs an after-school program at Thurgood Marshall Middle School through federal and state 21st Century Grants issued to U.S. schools to enrich and strengthen students academically and socially.

Never married, Seuss tried online dating off and on, resulting in one significant years-long relationship; however, the past few years left her discouraged.

"I was where a number of wonderful, single women are: I was tired of it all," she recalled. "And the (dating) ratio -- about 300 women to every one man -- is incredibly not in our favor."

Still, every few weeks, Seuss would check online, where her profile titled "Raspberries and Chocolate" was posted.

"If I had to be on a desert island," she explained, "those two foods would keep me for a very long time."

Becker's profile immediately attracted Seuss.

"He wasn't afraid to show his vulnerability," she said, "and I liked the authenticity, the articulateness, the sincerity.

"This was not a man who was a player," said Seuss, who holds a bachelor's degree in elementary special education and counselor education and a master's in the latter area.

"Even before the first date, I thought, this is going to be different -- and it was."

That first date, ironically at an Evanston restaurant named Blind Faith, took place July 29, 2008. The following Valentine's Day, Becker arranged for a special menu at a downtown Chicago restaurant. A question printed at the top asked, "Will you marry me?"

But Seuss immediately eyed the entrees. Becker suggested she read the menu top to bottom.

"Oh, my gosh," Seuss said.

Finally, Becker asked, "What do you want me to do, get down on my knees?"

"Yes," Seuss said, "I do."

On bended knee, he proposed to her to the applause of an entire restaurant.

With a red ruby engagement ring on her finger, Seuss found the perfect wedding gown, a short dress of rich dark red. She didn't make the "raspberry" connection at the time, Seuss said, "but I'd never bought a red dress."

Seuss and Becker, who work just five blocks apart, will be married Nov. 7 at the University Club. Illinois Supreme Court Judge Anne Burke and Pastor Virgil Vogt will officiate.

"It'll be the marriage of church and state," noted Becker.

Sandy Stevens has lived in Glen Ellyn since 1984. Contact her at ssmamabear@aol.com.