#Baylor175: Bill and Melanie Rogers, Class of 1971

What does your Baylor experience mean to you?

Her: “We met on a blind date. I was a freshman, and he was a sophomore.”

Him: “My roommate came from Beaumont, and he worked with Melanie in the cafeteria in Allen dorm. He said to her, ‘I’m going to fix you up with my roommate, and we’ll all go to a basketball game.’ We both tried to get out of the date, but he had a car. I didn’t have a car. Nobody had cars back then. He and his girlfriend and Melanie and I went to a basketball game.”

Her: “And we enjoyed it. We dated and got married in ’71, and we’re getting ready to celebrate our 49th wedding anniversary. After he got his MBA, we moved to Austin and lived there for almost five years, and then moved back to Waco when he went to work for a local bank here. And so our two daughters got to live here and go to Baylor functions and go to summer camps and things like that. Our older daughter graduated from Baylor and met her husband in the BRH choir here at Baylor. So, we just have a lot of family connections and friends here.”

— Bill (BBA ’71, MBA ’72) and Melanie (BBA ’71, MSED ’90) Rogers

[Baylor University was chartered by the Republic of Texas on Feb. 1, 1845, which makes this year our 175th anniversary. As part of our celebration, we’re sharing stories from Baylor alumni about their BU experience all semester long.]