The Language Of Love

Tim and Maricela Culpepper
Who Met In Language Class
Say Communication Is Key

The Wichita Eagle
Sunday, 31 Jan 1999, Section: Celebrations; Page: 1E
By Lisa G. Fleetwood

Many couples agree that communication is essential to a strong marriage.

For Tim and Maricela Culpepper, a desire to communicate better brought them together in the first place. Tim wanted to learn Spanish. Maricela wanted to learn English. But both learned the language of honesty, love and commitment.

Tim moved to Ciudad Victoria in Northeastern Mexico to stay with friends while he learned Spanish. He took a job teaching English and met Maricela in his first class.

Both Tim and Maricela struggled with the language and made mistakes they laugh about now. Tim broke his own rule by speaking Spanish in the class he taught, and so, in accordance with that rule, he brought enough candy to class for everyone.

As he tried to explain to Maricela that the blue candies were the best, the bag broke and candy spilled all over her.

Maricela didn't understand Tim's English very well when he asked her out to dinner for the first time - until he mentioned pizza, a word recognizable in both Spanish and English.

Maricela thought Tim was cute but had no romantic interest in him. "My thought was maybe he feels alone in the city and needs somebody to talk to," she says.

Romance was already on Tim's mind, however. After they had gone to dinner several times, Tim gave Maricela a special thank-you card. Only then did she realize he had more than Spanish on his mind.

"In the beginning I was worried," Maricela says. "In Mexico we think the morals in the U.S. are low."

She had heard stories of married Americans who wooed Mexican girlfriends then abandoned them. But as they got to know each other better and learned to communicate, Maricela fell in love with Tim's honesty and simplicity and felt reassured.

Tim learned that Mexican custom required a formal statement of intention before a couple started dating seriously. On a beautiful April day, he took Maricela to the front steps of a local church and asked her to be his girlfriend.

Several months after they met, Tim had to travel to Europe, then spend time in the U.S. looking for work.

Maricela's friends told her she'd been abandoned. Tim had to think deeply about the direction they were going and communicate his intentions to Maricela to calm her fears.

"Something in his letters reassured me," Maricela says. "I loved him. I trusted him."

Exactly one year after Tim asked Maricela to be his girlfriend, he took her to the steps of the same church and surprised Maricela by asking her to be his wife.

Tim, 30, is now a data specialist at Koch Industries. Maricela, 27, volunteers her time at a local day care. Adjusting to a new country and a new language has been difficult, but they continue to improve their communication and to set goals for the future.

"The purpose of having a home is to have family. That's all we want," Tim says. "We want a house in the country, a couple of kids and a dog."

Culpepper Ancestry. Tim Culpepper, born in Texas, is the son of Gilbert Webster Culpepper, son of Virgil B. Culpepper (1912-1989, MS), son of Joseph Washington Culpepper (1870-1915, MS), son of James Irwin Culpepper (1852-1900+, MS), son of Civil War veteran John Abb Culpepper (1824-1863, MS), son of John Culpepper (1791-1850, GA/MS), son of the Rev. John Culpepper (1766-1837, NC/MS), son of John Culpepper (1733-1808, NC/GA), son of Joseph Culpepper (1694-1745, VA/NC), son of Robert Culpepper (1664-1742, VA). 

Last Revised: 18 Nov 2001