Finding love in familiar spaces

In the two-plus years since Ruth Turnquist Carver ’70 shared her latest news in the Cornell Report’s Spring 2019 issue, she’s seen some big changes in her life. She now has two grandchildren, she moved from Aspen to Crested Butte, Colorado, although she kept her Aspen home, and she’s getting married to Jim Schmidt ’70. 

You might think that the two befriended each other while at the Hilltop and stayed in touch over the years or that their mutual interest in local civics tangled up their lives together after 40 years. Nope. Here’s what happened:

Carver’s class news submission to this very alumni magazine caught Schmidt’s attention for a couple of reasons. He saw a chance to connect with a Cornellian from his era who was also involved in local government. Schmidt has been mayor of Crested Butte for nearly 31 years, and so he did what mayors can do. He called the City of Aspen to find Carver’s contact information (Carver was a member of her town planning and zoning commission), and he asked her to meet him for lunch. She was busy and had to decline.

Time passed, and he was going to be near her area of Colorado, so he asked her to lunch again (she was busy the second time too). The third time was the charm that brought them together. After lunch, they simply fell into the swing of seeing each other more and more until, finally, they were a definite (class news) item.

“Ruth is bubbly and full of energy,” Schmidt says. “I really enjoy spending time with her.”

Schmidt has never been married before, but he keeps his life full of people he cares about and maintains strong friendships with Cornellians and others he has met along his journey. Carver was married before and has four adult children.

Watching them, it’s hard to believe they haven’t been together since their Hilltop days. They finish each other’s sentences, can tell each other’s life stories, and at the same time, they lean into and look at each other with faces and eyes completely lit up.

Schmidt mentioned a few times to Carver over the course of their relationship that he’d like to host a big party in the fall of 2021, when he plans to step away from his mayoral seat by not running for reelection. Eventually, Schmidt started referring to this event as an engagement party. And then, as a wedding reception. And Carver thought, “Well, you haven’t even asked me yet.”

After Carver nursed Schmidt back to health post back surgery, over two salads from a fast-food chain, he popped the question. He only had to ask once before she said yes.

“Jim is a kind, gentle, wonderful man,” Carver says. “When my daughter met Jim, she told me, ‘Mom, he is so good to you.’ And he is.”

Their wedding is to take place outdoors in nature—Schmidt’s version of a wedding chapel—followed by a honeymoon in Hawaii.