Catching Up With Chris Allen '78 & Tammy Brown Allen '79
Source/Author: Kate Merritt, Director of Annual Fund & Alumni
February 12, 2016
The year was 1978. Chris Allen was a senior and a member of the Chargers varsity football team. His girlfriend Tammy Brown was a junior and on the SPS varsity cheerleading squad. Chris remembers, "She was outgoing and had a great sense of humor while I was shy and introverted." Tammy recalls, "[As a cheerleader] I would help make the paper banners for the football team to make its grand entrance onto the field. I was in my glory when I would see my boyfriend run through that banner!"
Chris and Tammy clearly had a connection while at Shorecrest, but when Chris went off to the University of Tennessee in the fall of 1978, the distance proved too much for their relationship. "We did keep in contact, but proximity overrules distance and we both found others to date," explains Chris. Shortly after Chris left for Tennessee, Tammy moved to Illinois, and while the two connected a few times in Chicago, contact tapered off after Tammy phoned Chris to tell him she was getting married.
, out of the blue, Chris received a Facebook friend request from a long-lost friend -- Tammy! "After getting divorced, I moved back to St. Petersburg, Florida, with my two children, three dogs and a hamster," explains Tammy. Shortly thereafter the two began dating again, and they were married
four years later (May 2014).
Chris remembers re-introducing Tammy to their St. Petersburg Shorecrest friends. "They were quite happy to see Tammy. They all had fond memories of her." Tammy adds, "I don't believe they were surprised that we got together. We were meant for each other after all!"
