In honor of Valentine’s day, we would like to highlight a Trojan who exemplifies true love in all its whirlwind glory. Meet Dr. Diane Badame, a beloved Professor of Marketing at the Marshall School of Business who shares the story of meeting her “perfect valentine.” From handwritten letters to surprise picnics, Dr. Badame and her husband Jim’s relationship is a reminder that the simple gestures of love and affection will always hold a special place in our hearts. So, grab a box of tissues and get ready to be wrapped up in this whirlwind love story as she tells it.
May 25, 1984: Dr. Badame takes a one-way flight from Minneapolis to San Francisco to assume a new job as Vice President of Marketing for Bank of America.
June 4, 1984: She meets her boss on her first day of work. A few hours later, her boss tells a colleague named Jim that he has an intuition that he just met the woman Jim is going to marry.
When visiting Jim’s office, Dr. Badame notices a photograph of two women and deduces that Jim is taken, not knowing he is divorced. When Jim goes to her office, he spots a dozen red roses she’d received from a man she had recently met. Both of them believed the other was taken.
June 8, 1984: On a picnic with colleagues, they sit next to each other on the bus and learn they are both single!
June 14, 1984: They have their first date. (And yes, she remembers all the dates).
July 1, 1984: As the sun sets on the Bank of America building rooftop, he proposes to her, and she instantly says yes! It was a whirlwind romance, but she says, “you just know when it’s right.”
Later, she calls the man who had sent the dozen red roses. His name was Russ Snow. “I used to call him Snowman… I called him up and said, ‘Snowman, I’ve met someone I’m going to marry!’”
August 25, 1984: Less than three months after they first laid eyes on each other, they marry near the ocean in an intimate ceremony in Tiburon, California. “It was one of those love affairs that was like magic,” she says.
When asked about the secret sauce to love like this, Dr. Badame says, “I can’t tell the younger generation to go slow… I went pretty darn fast! But when you find that someone, appreciate and celebrate each other in all the ways you possibly can. My husband and I celebrate our monthly anniversaries. We write cards to each other. I have a stack of anniversary cards in my office. We go to the beach, cook dinner, and have special date nights together. Last month was our 461st month anniversary! That’s 38 years! Maybe love is not about finding someone… Maybe it’s all about getting lost in that person!”
Written by: Devanshi Punch, M.A. Marketing Analytics, Marshall School of Business, Class of 2023