Love on the Lawn: A UVA Couple Shares Four Decades Together
Wayne Cozart: Okay, you want to start or you want me to?
Pat Lampkin: You go ahead. Iāll correct you.
Wayne Cozart: 1979 when we got here was really the old University.
Pat Lampkin: Doors werenāt locked, there were no signs. It was also of a place that had values and culture and an identity. And the best part of it was that it was allowed to change.
Wayne Cozart: Both Pat and I came in 1979, she was working for housing. I was working in the dean of students office and she would walk by and so I would say hello to her.
Pat Lampkin: We didnāt necessarily like each other.
Wayne Cozart: I was going to say that.
Pat Lampkin: Okay.
Wayne Cozart: Six years later, I decided to take her out on a date.
Pat Lampkin: That was our only date.
Wayne Cozart: Thatās right.
Wayne Cozart: We were married on Halloween because the chapel was available and therefore our anniversary is trick or treating on the Lawn. Living in Pavilions for for 19 years was an absolute joy.
Pat Lampkin: We experienced a lot of things together when there werenāt people around, both in the feeling of the space and the feeling for each other and you knew it was very special.
Wayne Cozart: If weāve never had a honeymoon, and we canāt celebrate our anniversary every year, then you rely on moments in order to build and maintain a relationship.
Pat Lampkin: I mean, itās changed our lives. Right? Right. I do feel incredibly lucky that weāve had a pretty rich life.
Wayne Cozart: Yeah, absolutely.