A Shared Vision
John Rathjens ’92 made a crucial mistake in his first days at Colgate in 1988.
He was waiting in line during drop/add, the notoriously long and laborious process then-required to create a class schedule, when he spotted a “super cute blonde” with a friendly smile. She was chatting with friends from her residence hall as John nervously approached and introduced himself.
“I’m sure I got her name, but I didn’t remember it,” says John, who “kicked himself” each time he saw the nameless blonde on campus in the following weeks.
“She’d greet me with a big ‘Hi, John!’ and I’d have to stumble over my words,” he says. Eventually, John did learn Robin’s name, and the two biology majors grew close in their Animals as Organisms class, where they’d exchange notes featuring John’s elaborate doodles.
“He’s a very good artist,” says Robin. “I loved watching him draw.”
That winter, they arranged an official first date — at the Hamilton Theater to see the Tom Hanks comedy Punchline.
“We hated it,” Robin says. “But we were comfortable enough with each other that we didn’t feel the need to be polite. We both laughed and talked about how terrible it was after.”
As their relationship blossomed, John and Robin learned they had much more in common than their biology major. They shared an interest in the arts, with a love for art history, especially. They joined the racquetball club, enrolled in the same music electives, and worked on sculpture projects together — part of John’s studio art minor.
Junior and senior years, they chose to live in the Creative Arts House, where they learned to cook in the kitchen, picking up new recipes from their housemates, like authentic Chinese stir fry and homemade hummus.
“We still make some of those recipes today,” says John.
After graduation, during a summer internship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, John reevaluated his plans for medical school — and Robin’s lifelong interest in optometry inspired him to pursue a different path. The couple settled in Boston, where John started optometry school and Robin began working at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. She followed him into optometry school not long after.
Soon, John proposed, and the couple returned to Colgate to tie the knot in Memorial Chapel, followed by an outdoor reception on a rain-soaked day in summer 1996.
“It was a really fun party,” says John. “Though everybody did talk about throwing their muddy shoes out afterward.”
By 1999, they had both graduated from the New England College of Optometry and were working in separate practices. A few years later, now living in Connecticut, John and Robin saw the opportunity to start a new practice — together. In 2005, they opened Rathjens Vision Care in Milford, Conn., where they’ve been working nearly side by side ever since.
As their business grew, so did their family: son Anton arrived in 2006, daughter Eliza two years later. And with their children now approaching college age, John and Robin find themselves marveling at just how young they were — both 18 — when they first met and fell in love.
“We were really just kids when we met,” says John. “But that allowed us to share so many new experiences, especially at Colgate. I like to say that we grew up together.”