We can’t get enough of Doris and Denis’ love story. Our neighbors told us the tale of their early courtship at The Woodlands last year, and during this season of love, we’re excited to share it with you.
Doris had taken notice of Denis on the University of Pennsylvania campus, even remembering the dashiki he was wearing the first time she ever saw him. For a few years, Doris followed Denis’ running accomplishments on the Penn’s Men’s Varsity Cross Country and Track and Field teams, but they officially met each other at a University of Pennsylvania Friars Senior Society dinner in April of 1973.
Doris’ group performed that night, and she was wearing a flouncy burgundy mini-dress. A few weeks later, the two ran into each other on the sidewalk at 42nd and Spruce and began to unravel the coincidences: Denis’ college roommate Pete was the brother of Doris’ former college roommate Abby, and Abby had been telling Doris for quite some time that she should meet Pete’s roommate Elton, but Doris really wasn’t interested because Pete was, well, kind of strange — how was Doris supposed to know Elton was his middle name, or that Elton and Denis were the same person?
A few days after, Denis Elton rang the bell at Doris’ apartment on 42nd St and he ended up staying for dinner—tuna, macaroni, and cheese casserole, which he ate, although he really didn’t like it. The pair talked and talked some more and discovered they had much in common. Not wanting the evening to end, the couple took a walk and found themselves drawn to The Woodlands where Doris sometimes strolled with friends and Denis Elton frequently trained with teammates. Sitting at the base of Thomas Evans’ tomb, the tallest obelisk in the cemetery, Doris and Denis talked until 3:00 in the morning. The conversation has continued ever since and the Cochran-Fikes recently celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary.
Photo by University City District.
For their final wishes, Doris and Denis both want to be cremated; they picked out adjoining plots in Center Circle, located at the highest point of the cemetery. The lovebirds find it very comforting to know their eternal view will be Thomas Evans’ tomb and the University of Pennsylvania campus, where their friendship and love first blossomed, and will continue in perpetuity at The Woodlands.
As told to The Woodlands Staff by Doris and Denis Cochran-Fikes