Ryans maintain a 21 year marriage at SJHS
April 27, 2017
Dennis and Ing-Mari Ryan both teach English classes at Stillwater Junior High School. The two have been married for 21 years, and met through the school.
“He started here the year we opened this building in 1994, and he was a new teacher, and I was working with our new teacher mentorship program, and so we just went to a lot of meetings together, with a lot of new people. When we opened this building we had to hire so many new people, so there were a ton of new teachers every year. Then we went to visit a school in Michigan…and he went on that trip, so we got to know each other a little bit then,” Ing-Mari explained.
They both teach ninth grade English, only three rooms away from one another. They drive to and from school together every morning and afternoon and have three kids of their own, all college students.
Getting to know each other
Ing-Mari and Dennis were engaged fairly soon after beginning dating, then married shortly after.
“By spring we were dating, but we didn’t really tell anyone. The secretary in the office I think knew. A couple of my friends knew. But we got engaged in late spring because we just figured it out pretty fast,” Ing-Mari said. “We met in September and were engaged by April. But I was 29 by then. By the time you’re that old you kind of have it figured out. You’ve dated enough, you figure it out.”
Dennis proposed to Ing-Mari in April, but he openly asked one of his eighth grade classes if they would grant him the favor.
“My eighth grade class proposed to her. I said ‘How many of you had Ms. Gahr last year?’ and they said ‘Oh we love her, she’s awesome.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I think I’m going to marry her,’ and they were like ‘Oh shut up,’ and I pulled out the ring. I said ‘Why don’t you guys go do it for me, so they practiced in uniform and went sprinting down the hall,” Dennis explained.
Over 20 years of happiness and romance
Since the Ryans have been married for such a long time, some of Dennis’ smaller, more personal gestures have not gone unnoticed by Ing-Mari, like their talks on the drive home from school, or his willingness to cook constantly during their summer vacations at her mother’s cabin.
“Do you know the story about how he proposed? I’d say that’s pretty romantic,” she explained. “I would say he’s probably more romantic, because he can’t ever wait to give a present. If he goes to get a birthday or anniversary present a few days before, I always get it the day he bought it. He can never wait. He really likes to cook, and I enjoy it, but he much rather. After you’ve been married for this long, those kinds of things are the romantic parts. It’s not the storybook romantic stuff, but it’s the ‘I’ve been married 21 years’ kind of stuff.”
Both Ing-Mari and Dennis will be moving up to the high school with the transition, so they have been spending much more time together in school.
“This year is the first year we’ve taught the same grade, so I enjoy finding out exactly what types of instructional techniques that he’s used, and talking about that in our English department. His teaching style is so based on his personality, and connecting with kids, and you can’t replicate that, but it’s fun talking about some of the things,” Ing-Mari added.
Dennis is glad for the years he has had at SJHS, but is looking forward to the challenges they will have to face in the next few years, like acclimating to the new staff, students, and environment.
“I still enjoy doing it [teaching]. If you’re going to leave teaching, you usually do it within the first five years,” Dennis expressed. “These last two years I’ve had really nice kids. I wish they’d work a little harder sometimes, but they’re nice kids.”
Family matters
One of their children was born with a severe health issue, so Ing-Mari had let go of teaching to care for their daughter.
“I left in 2000 when our daughter was born with some medical issues, and we had been married for five years. I was gone for seven years, because she had a heart transplant. We had three kids, and so I stayed home for seven years. I didn’t think I would come back here again, but the principal at the time was like, ‘I need someone to teach one, maybe two classes, please come back,’ and I was ready, and it worked out that she was doing so well,” Ing-Mari said.
While all of their children are still exploring their futures in college, they try to keep family traditions going.
“As our kids have gotten older it’s really hard to keep them [traditions] going, but when we sit down for dinner we always say what we’re thankful for. We really make a point of having dinner together,” Ing-Mari said.
While they find their marriage to be quite standard, meeting each others’ families was one of the easiest parts. Ing-Mari would hardly change a thing.
“They [my parents] liked him right away. My dad especially. Unfortunately he passed away. My dad was a really good woodworker, and he [Dennis] helped my dad fix up some stuff in our house, and when my dad was getting really sick he helped at my parent’s house. He [my dad] kept trying to teach him things, and Dennis isn’t very handy, so I wish he was still around for that sort of stuff, but my mom loves [Dennis],” Ing-Mari explained.
Ing-Mari believes that while their relationship was fast and unexpected, it worked out to be a perfect fit.
“He had worked at a daycare when he was in graduate school, and he loved talking about that, and I thought that was neat. I enjoyed hanging out with him and his friends, and vise versa,” Ing-Mari explained. “Because I was older, I wanted to make sure everybody got along, and our college friends each enjoyed each other, so that was good. And I thought he was really smart. I didn’t think I would marry a teacher, but we have a lot of common values.”
Tess Schoenborn • Dec 18, 2017 at 9:20 pm
I love this story. It’s so cute and really enjoyable to read. Stories like this can and will bring readers happiness and joy, especially other teachers and students at SJHS. What really drew my attention was the fact that it was about a marriage within a school in our area.
Hannah Larson • May 9, 2017 at 10:22 am
How you were able to really show how they first met and recreate that through writing is amazing. The article itself is very descriptive and full of detail.
Andria Barrett • May 9, 2017 at 8:51 am
This was a creative topic and the quotes really show how the couple’s lives are intertwined with their teaching. This article is very heartwarming.
Sam Johnson • May 9, 2017 at 12:02 am
I had both of these teachers at the junior high and I really like how the writer captured their styles of both teaching and living. It’s interesting to hear about them after the couple years it has been since I was last taught by either of them
Payton A Filipiak • May 8, 2017 at 10:21 pm
This story was so cute and creative. I like how you let the quotes tell the story, it gave it a more personal feel. From the formatting to the word choice, you can tell a lot of thought went into this story. I love how this article tells a story instead of listings facts, it shows how talented Mira is as an journalist. Overall, this is one of my favorite stories the Pony Express has ever published.
Mariah Marsnik • May 8, 2017 at 10:19 pm
I had both of them as teachers but I never knew the whole story so I’m glad I read this, it was extremely fun to read. The depth of the quotes show that you asked thoughtful questions during the interviews. It’s a very well-written story, I didn’t see any errors. It looks like you enjoyed hearing their story and put all your research and quotes into a polished article!
Josh Bauer • May 8, 2017 at 5:24 pm
This is a good article and something that is a little different. A lot of good research was conducted and you can tell the author put some very great effort into this story.
Conner Cole • May 8, 2017 at 12:51 pm
It’s a very interesting story and a solid local connection. A good use of sources to make the story which helped added detail and quotes to build the story into what it is.
ceci charlsen • May 8, 2017 at 11:41 am
I love this article, the spacing using sub-headlines made it very pleasant to read. The interviews made the article very personal and fun to read.
Teagan Andrews • May 8, 2017 at 8:12 am
This article is so cute and very interesting! I loved the way you separated the article. It’s interesting because not everyone knew about it. It was very well written and i loved reading about it.
Emma Salmi • May 7, 2017 at 10:30 pm
This article is very cool and has a lot of information. She chose great quotes that were very informative. I think she did a good job of capturing their relationship through the article. I also think the section breaks help the flow of the article.
Nicholas Gag • May 7, 2017 at 10:17 pm
Awesome article! The sectional breaks really add a lot to the story. It looks awesome! I found the story very interesting because it is something not everyone knows about.
Elana Ross • May 7, 2017 at 9:19 pm
This article was super cute and such a heartwarming story, Mira did a very good job writing it. The lead was strong as well as the quotes. Overall the article did a great job sharing the story.
Grace McDonough • May 7, 2017 at 9:01 pm
This article utilized quotes well to give the perspective and thoughts of the Ryans, and the article was really driven by this strength. The author did an excellent job on conveying this story in a way that was heartwarming to the reader and kept attention. This was very well written and a fun read.
Allison Heintz • May 7, 2017 at 8:43 pm
This article is so sweet and super cute! The subtitles look good and really help space out the article. The quotes are very detailed of their marriage and is so well put together
Anna Koenning • May 7, 2017 at 8:26 pm
I love this article! The quotations used are very expressive of the Ryans’ marriage, and they are never redundant. You clearly asked very thorough questions to receive such in-depth responses. Great article!
Kleio Vrohidis • May 7, 2017 at 7:02 pm
This story was super cute and interesting! I really liked the way you separated the article with subheadlines, it formed the story like you were telling a story. The quotes are also super informative and detailed!
Ashlyn Aarness • May 1, 2017 at 3:15 pm
This story is so happy and fun! I had both of these teachers so it’s interesting to hear the back story. The quotes in the story work really well with what is being explained. Story is really informative and delivers the message in an awesome way. nIce job!
Elise Luoma • May 1, 2017 at 11:15 am
This article is extremely informative and has an interesting lead. I had both of these teachers in junior high and I learned new facts about their story and teaching careers. From the first to last sentences, the reader was pulled in.