Don and Micki pettit

Micki and astronaut-to-be Don Pettit met in 1991 at a Christmas party in the home of a wine enthusiast, a Los Alamos National Lab brainy type whose guests were mostly scientists.

Said Micki: “My girlfriend, who shared the host’s love of wine, was told there would be several single men attending. Not wanting to show up alone, she literally begged me to go along. I was still tired from a charity party the night before in Santa Fe, and I didn ’t care to imbibe, let alone socialize. But she convinced me ‘that’s what good friends do for each other.’ Unfortunately for her, the party was nothing but couples… with the exception of (fortunately for me) Don Pettit.”

Micki was immediately attracted to Don. “He is so smart. And funny, and cute. And he’ll tell you he appreciated my sense of humor—and my curves.”

They began to date, and some months later, Micki got a phone call from Don’s niece. She was congratulating Micki on the wedding and the upcoming honeymoon in Australia. When she confronted Don

Proposal number two came the following day. Said Nicki: “I was at work (KIOT Radio in Santa Fe) finishing up some commercial editing when the receptionist came into the studio and told me there was a man at the front desk, dressed to the nines, who wanted to see me. She told me she thought it was Don. My Don? He who was friend to T-shirts and foe to all but clip-on ties? No way. I told her to send in the mystery man anyway. There was my husband-to-be, in a real business suit —the one his < /span>GQ savvy friend and I helped pick out for his upcoming interview with NASA. Don got down on one knee and did his proposing. We were both in tears. ”

They did, indeed, get married in Australia. On Aug. 26, 1995. On a sheep ranch. “It was pure serendipity,” she said. “But that’s another story.”

Their advice on keeping a happy union: Ask the hard questions before you get married. You don’t have to do everything together, nor should you,

met Joanne Guest—at the U.H. Sadie Hawkins Day dance. Across the candlelit table from Welcome was a friend whose date absolutely hypnotized him with her beauty.

“She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen,” said Welcome, who even remembers that Joanne was dressed like Daisy Mae in the L ’il Abner comic strip of the day, in the off-shoulder polka-dot blouse. But since she didn ’t talk much, he didn’t get her name. Soon, thinking of her, he began to lay awake nights in Army Surplus trailer No. 67, the dorm housing on the campus at that time. (The only toilet was a block and a half away, he recalls.)

It was six months later when he spotted her walking down the hall, joined her with conversation and an invitation to go with him immediately to the Friday staff party at the Cougar, the student newspaper office where Welcome was student business manager.

Come time to go, he insisted on driving her home in her luxurious Packard, and managed to stay long enough to steal a kiss at the kitchen sink before the arrival of her date for the evening, Rice cheerleader Sully Sullivan.

Welcome and Joanne dated for six months when the proposal came one evening at the Pig Stand that used to be on south Main near Sears. They

What attracted them to each other? Said Welcome: “Besides being beautiful, Joanne has high morals, didn’t drink or smoke, and wanted several children. We shared common goals, and were willing to work hard for success. ”

Joanne said: “Handsome. Very intelligent and a great personality. And he was determined to succeed in every project. ”

For keeping a happy union, Joanne advises “being in love with your best friend” and having five children who are all doing well.”

Welcome says: “Common goals, unending patience, consideration and, most of all, a mutual respect, with the recognition that people can have different points of view and both be right. ”