With Valentine’s Day just passing, it is the perfect time to spread love stories in the spirit of the season. Many of the staff at Camas High School (CHS) remember finding their “true love” as if it were yesterday. Three of our teachers have shared the heart-felt, enduring romances that changed their lives.

CHS Bodyworks teacher, Valerie Parbon, met her husband Jesse Parbon at Whitworth University (WU) in Washington. Valerie Parbon was one of the school’s athletic trainers at the time while Jesse Parbon was on the WU football team. During one of the team’s games at Willamette University, Jesse Parbon’s younger brother had gotten hurt. He played as a backup and later got seriously injured himself. Valerie Parbon instinctively ran out on the field to care for the wounded player.

“Anyway, I got him off to the side of the field and I was assigned to stay with him the whole time,” said Valerie Parbon. “I got put in charge of his rehab, and his surgery, I helped him through all of that.”

Although she didn’t think much of it, Jesse Parbon knew he was going to love her.

“That day, for some reason he got that feeling like, this is the one, and I didn’t necessarily get that feeling right away,” said Valerie Parbon. Today, the two of them are married and both specialize in fitness and athletics at CHS.

Lisa Schneider, CHS girls’ basketball coach and learning center staff member, has her own love story to share. Schneider met her husband 26 years ago at a dance club in Scottsdale, Arizona.

“I walked in and I was like, that guy is kind of cute, and they all had Hawaiian shirts on, it was ugly Hawaiian shirt night for them, for the fellas, and he still has that Hawaiian shirt now,” said Schneider. They quickly sensed a connection and grew enamored with each other.

“8 months later, he said ‘everything I want to do in my life, I want to do with you’,” Schneider said. He proposed to her during their spring break and they later got married in Las Vegas.

“He is awesome, he’s my best friend, super funny, and gave me 3 great kids,” said Schneider. She holds great admiration for her husband and built her future with him.

Fitness teacher, Les Albert, and library media teacher, Tonia Albert met at a week-long church camp. They were both counselors and, after talking, had realized they attended colleges only 30 minutes away from each other. They had planned to meet up after the camp, and at the end of the week, they had a disposable picture taken.

“We still have that picture, and it’s really cool,” said Les Albert. Much later he had prepared a poem for his proposal to Tonia Albert.