Chris and Cindy with their daughters (L to R): Lara ’20, Audrey, and Hailey.
Chris Stephens ’81, P’20 and Cindy Miller ’89, P’20
We first met in New York City at an Upper East Side pub called Mumbles (sadly, it’s now a CVS) in 1991. Chris was living across the street, working his heart out at his law firm, and I was pursuing my dream of becoming a professional singer while tending bar on the side. Chris used to come in late at night, straight from the office, still in his suit and tie, to grab a bite. Over the bar, we talked about everything, from politics to travel to life as we knew it in the Chenango Valley. We were living very different lifestyles, me working nights and Chris working days, me pursuing a dream as an artist and he as a lawyer. Colgate was the bridge that connected the night barmaid and the aspiring young law partner.
This Christmas, we celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary, and our lives have changed dramatically since the days at the bar. Right after our wedding, Chris’s law firm asked him to relocate to Hong Kong. We were supposed to be there for only two years, but it turned into 16. Then his career took us to the Philippines, where Chris still works as the general counsel of the Asian Development Bank. I pursued other dreams after our three little girls were born — travel writing mainly, producing several guidebooks on my beloved adopted home of Hong Kong. (Read “Maroon’d… in Manila.”)
Chris and I had not been to Colgate in more than 15 years (it is a long ride from Hong Kong or Manila to Hamilton) when our daughter Lara decided she really wanted to visit. Chris took her last year for a campus tour, and in the fall, I dropped her off at West Hall on a beautiful (but rainy) Hamilton day. It was a strange but wonderful feeling to be on campus again with Lara. I even ran into Professor Margaret Maurer at the library — what a thrill that was for me!
When at the bookstore with Lara, I took a few minutes to look at the Salmagundi for 1981 and 1989 (sitting, coincidentally, side by side) and found some old photos of my husband and myself before we found each other. In that special moment on the floor of the bookstore, I truly felt that life had come full circle.
— Cindy Miller ’89, P’20 (and Chris Stephens ’81, P’20, whose dad, Thomas Joseph Stephens, graduated in 1942)
