By Sonya Mitchell

When one reminisces about the people one carpooled with in elementary school, one often recounts a time of nagging, whining and worrying about the other gender’s cooties. Suffice it to say, when Lindsay Rachelefsky ’97 and Daniel Weinstock ’96 met in carpool at John Thomas Dye, they had no idea that they would end up getting married.

They continued to be in carpool until Daniel graduated from elementary school a year before Lindsay.
“Just for the record, I was 6 years old and she was 5 years old—that’s the equivalent of a 10 year difference when you’re in first and second grade,” Daniel said.

But even once they both reconvened at Harvard-Westlake, they didn’t hit it off.

“We were friendly,” Lindsay said. “We both ran track—I was a sprinter and Daniel ran long distance. He apparently brought me a flower once when I was home sick, but I don’t remember. I’m pretty sure he did that for a different girl and is getting confused.”

Even after attending different colleges, they still continued to run into each other.

“His best friends from Harvard-Westlake all went to Columbia with me, and Daniel would often come down from Bates College in Maine to visit,” Lindsay said.

Even though it seems they had always been in each other’s lives, they didn’t start dating until 2003 when Lindsay moved back to Los Angeles from Washington, D.C. They ran into each other at a park and Lindsay gave Daniel her number, but he never called. A few months later, they ran into each other again at synagogue for Rosh Hashanah services where Lindsay’s friends convinced Daniel to give them a tour of Spago’s kitchen, where Daniel was a chef.

“We did end up going, but he still never called me,” Lindsay remembers. “Two months later, Daniel cut his finger cooking and went to the emergency room. When he got home from the hospital after being told he would have to take three weeks off, he called me to ask me out. We went out that night, and got married four years later.”

With all their history, once they reconvened in 2003, Lindsay and Daniel knew they were not having a mere fling.

“I definitely had a feeling it would be serious,” Daniel said.

Growing up,  Lindsay and Daniel never dreamed that they would end up together.

“He never talked in carpool in elementary school,” she said. “He was literally always silent.”

However, she always thought he was cute (she and her friends called him “hot Daniel”).

Lindsay knows they have a good story to tell the grandchildren.

“I don’t think the idea of high school sweethearts is sappy,” she said. “I love that Daniel and I have a solid foundation and history to build upon.”

Additionally, partly because of their similar backgrounds, their parents quickly approved of their union.

“Our parents didn’t know each other well, but the fact that their kids grew up going to the same schools made it such that our families grew close quickly,” Daniel said.

Because of their synchronized upbringings, Daniel and Lindsay naturally shared many of the same friends.

“Our friends think it is great,” Lindsay said. “Daniel and I still both have a very big and tight group of high school friends. In fact, there has been some inter-group dating.”

“Our wedding had a very strong John Thomas Dye and Harvard-Westlake contingency,” Daniel remembers. “In fact, our wedding party was predominantly made up of HW graduates from our respective graduating classes.”

For Trevor Roth ’92 and Jenny Koss Roth ’92, the separation of Harvard and of Westlake could not keep them apart. They first met when they were both 10th graders; Jenny was 14 and Trevor was 15. They were married 10 years later in 2000.

“We had mutual friends and I would see Trevor at parties and social events,” Jenny said. “Back then, Harvard and Westlake had not even announced a merger. The Harvard boys and Westlake girls were often initially introduced to each other at school-sponsored events.”

Trevor and Jenny met when she was dating his best friend. Never once did Jenny think she would be one of the few who marry their high school sweethearts; however, she is glad that she did.

“It is really special that Trevor and I share so much of our past,” she said. “Harvard-Westlake was a very important part of my life, and of Trevor’s life, and it is even more special since we have shared memories of it.

I personally think it is very cute that we have been together so long. I was the first person Trevor picked up in his car when he got his driver’s license. How many married couples can say that?”

Although Jenny believes marrying your high school sweetheart is cute, she knows she did not simply marry the boy she dated in high school.

“As Trevor and I grew up, we grew closer together instead of further apart, and that is why it worked,” she said. “Neither one of us is the same person we were when we met 18 years ago.”

“At our wedding, our friends spoke a lot about how special it was to them that Trevor and I are high school sweethearts,” Jenny remembers. “I think it is because it is so rare for people who meet so young to make it so long.”

The place where they earned their high school diploma and met their mates remains a very vital component of Trevor and Jenny’s lives. Trevor’s business partner is from the class of 1992, Trevor was the best man of his friend of 1992 and Jenny regularly gathers with women from Westlake for dinner and has play-dates for their kids.

Additionally, although growing up many of their friends dated each other at some point in high school, Jenny and Trevor were the only ones who married their high school sweetheart.