By Becky Blocker Walzak ’70 and David Walzak ’71
David Walzak and the former Becky Blocker met in the Oak Grove in September 1968, and 57 years later, they are still together. Here, they share their “life’s adventure” that got its start at IUP.
There is nothing like a clear crisp fall evening in the hills of western Pennsylvania to make one believe that anything is possible, even finding the love of your life. At least it happened that way for us.
We met in the Oak Grove at the Welcome Back get-together on Friday, September 13, 1968, and 57 years later, we are still together. Since we both had school to finish, we were able to enjoy the life of college sweethearts, with homecomings, sorority and fraternity formals, working together on papers for classes, and just living a typical college life.
On June 13, 1970, we were married and headed off on life’s adventure. Our first stop was Maryland, where we both became teachers in Montgomery County. David went on to become a vice principal, while Becky changed course and began working in the financial services industry. While in Maryland, we became avid runners, both nationally and internationally, and both raced in everything from 5Ks to marathons.
The year 1998 brought significant changes, as an employment offer moved us to Florida. While Becky went to work for an international banking company, David headed up North Florida University’s Distance Learning program. From there, we headed to South Florida, where David worked for a company providing international educational services for employees and Becky started a consulting company for operational risk and quality management. In 2008, David joined Becky in her business. We have been happily retired since 2023 and continue to live in Florida.
We are the proud parents of two children and grandparents of three. When our son remarried in 2024, we were fortunate to add four additional grandchildren.
Of course, life is not all work. With David having been a geography major, traveling to visit the geographic wonders of the world just came naturally. Since 1996, we have visited all seven continents, over 75 countries, and all 50 states.
Although we didn’t know it then, the road we started down on that fall evening at IUP set us on the path of a lifetime that we continue to enjoy and cherish every day.