*Kate, Will, Emily, and Tom Cutrer at Will’s wedding to Jessica Cutrer in Austin, Texas, on December 29, 2012.*

Upon meeting Drs. Tom and Emily Cutrer, one might wonder what brought these two dynamic people together. Tom is gregarious, extremely witty and often has a gleam in his eye that would indicate a fondness for boyish mischief. Emily is refined, gracious and often found keeping a keen eye out for that boyish mischief. Both are brilliant scholars and share a voracious appetite for knowledge.

*Lt. Tom Cutrer in 1971 at the air base in Nakhon Phanom, Thailand, with the OV-10 Bronco in which he flew surveillance missions over the Ho Chi Minh trail.*

The path that led them to be seated across the table from one another in a graduate seminar at The University of Texas had numerous twists and turns. Tom was raised in south Louisiana as an only child by his widowed mother, his grandmother and several “old maid aunts” following the untimely death of his father when Tom was only 5. In his words he was “severely spoiled.” He loved reading and the outdoors – especially fishing and camping with his Boy Scout troop. Tom’s love of wilderness led him to his favorite scripture, “Be still and know that I am God.”

*Tom and Emily celebrating Christmas together in 1978.*

Tom earned a bachelor’s degree in history in 1969 from Louisiana State University and a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force from the university’s ROTC program. (This is probably a good point to interject that Tom is a quite committed LSU Tiger fan and thoroughly enjoyed attending the national championship game in New Orleans with Emily and friends.) After graduation, Tom was sent to Vietnam where he served as a combat intelligence officer, flying over Laos in the backseat of an OV-10 reconnaissance plane and trying to interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Emily recalled that Tom’s boyhood heroes were generals, especially Robert E. Lee, and he wanted to be a general but “Vietnam cured him of that.” Upon his return to the States – “wanting to get that taste out of my mouth” – he entered the PhD program in American Civilization at The University of Texas.

Emily was born in San Antonio and moved to Houston when she was 9 – so she considers Houston her hometown. She recalled that she and her brother enjoyed a traditional and happy childhood. She was quite involved in school activities and credits her high school English teacher for having them write an essay in class each week that was subjected to “brutal grading” – but this experience has served her well in her life as an academic. Her desire to leave Texas for college led her to Hollins College, a women’s college in Virginia. After two years, she transferred to The University of Texas in Austin. Although she’d always wanted to be Nancy Drew, Emily became “really engaged in academics” and decided to go to graduate school.

That initial classroom meeting left Emily and Tom with somewhat different opinions. “Tom and I met in Austin my first year in graduate school in the mid-1970s,” Emily shared. “I wouldn’t say there was an instant connection, but I was impressed that he had the courage to argue with our Pulitzer Prize winning professor about the proper way to write dates.” (Tom uses English style; the professor didn’t.)

*Tom with daughter, Kate, getting ready to fry a Thanksgiving turkey.*

*Granddaughter Olivia Cutrer, learning how to build a Lincoln Logs fort with Grandpa last spring in Austin, Texas.*

Tom’s recollection of their meeting was much more dramatic. “In my first graduate seminar, I found myself seated across the table from a beautiful Texas girl. I fell in love with her in an instant. Some days later I left a note in her study carrel, beseeching her to attend a Guy Clark/Emmy Lou Harris concert with me at the Armadillo World Headquarters. By return note, she demurred. Something to do with having to wash her hair. I got the message, but I could not get her out of my mind. On the day before my oral qualifying exams – a test that would determine my entire future – I could not think of anything except her. Totally unable to concentrate, I closed my books and drove to the campus on the impossibly Quixotic errand of finding her amid the 30,000 other students … if she was there, at all. After wandering rather aimlessly for about an hour, cursing myself for a damned fool, there she was, crossing the Drag in front of the Coop, walking my way. It was not possible, but it had just happened. We sat on the rim of the fountain in front of the student union for I don’t know how long … but when I finally left to get back to my books, I felt that we had made something of a commitment to at least try a relationship. Anyway, that was the spin I put on her lack of a negative response, and, after that, I never gave her a chance to say no. I cannot claim, like Dante’s Francesca and Paolo, that ‘on that day we did not read another line,’ but from then until now we have done our reading together.”

Tom’s wit and charm obviously endeared him to Emily. Surrounded by family and friends who were also grad students, Tom and Emily were married in the chapel of St. David’s Episcopal Church in Austin on May 28, 1978, by a fellow graduate student who was a priest. Emily fondly recalled that it was “simple and lovely.” Her best advice to young couples starting their life together would be “Talk kindly to each other about what’s on your mind … good and bad.”

Daughter Kate was born in 1980, a little over two years after they married. Tom turned in his completed dissertation the day she was born. Emily smiled as she remembered the events of that day. “After he turned it in, he couldn’t remember where he’d parked his car at UT because he was so sleepy. Ultimately, of course, he found it – but it took a while!” Kate is now an 8th grade English teacher in New Orleans and loves it.

Will was born five years later, also in Austin. He’s also an educator – full-time dean of students and occasional English/theater teacher at St. Michael’s Academy, a Catholic high school in Austin. He’s married to Jessica, and they have two children, Olivia (3.5) and Keegan (14 months) with another on the way in March.

Though Tom is retired as Professor Emeritus from Arizona State University, he has continued active work as an historian and author. “His work helps keep me in touch with my love of history,” Emily noted. “He’s great at sharing with me whatever he’s working on – most recently the diary of Rachel Moores – a 19th century document he found in the Regional History Museum and which he’s now editing for publication. The stories he uncovers are fun to come home to.”

“Fun” is an appropriate descriptor for the Cutrer home. They often prepare fantastic meals and entertain friends there – but they also enjoy times when just the two of them can get together in the kitchen to prepare their favorite Louisiana foods while listening to Zydeco music and dancing. While she describes Tom as a gentleman, it is his sense of fun that Emily believes is her favorite thing about her husband.

Tom and Emily love to travel – particularly to places of historical interest. “While we still have the patience for long flights, we’ve been crossing overseas destinations off our bucket list,” Emily explained. “We’ve had some wonderful surprises when our travels have taken us to places we didn’t know much about – like the Baltic countries such as Latvia and Lithuania. Vietnam was another delightful surprise!”

When Emily was offered the position of president of Texas A&M University-Texarkana, Tom recalled that she asked him if he’d move back to Texas with her. His response was simple … “'Will you buy me a new truck?' I got the truck, and here we are, and we've been happy ever since.” When asked to describe Emily in one word, Tom confessed the question stumped him. His multi-word answer reflects his profound love and admiration for his bride – “Can say for sure, however, that she is the only person in the world who I would unhesitatingly follow anywhere blindfolded.”

After 40+ years of marriage, the Cutrers’ romance continues – and it’s definitely one for the history books!

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