Suzanne Kart couldn’t stand Jeff Kart when they first met.
Suzanne started at The State News in January 1991 and Jeff joined around March. They were both sophomores.
“I kind of played the field,” Jeff said. “I dated a lot of Suzanne’s friends and coworkers, but I guess I always had my eye on Suzanne, because eventually I ended up with her.”
“Yeah, but I couldn’t stand him,” Suzanne said.
He was–and still is–very loud with everything he does, including typing on a keyboard, Suzanne said.
They both work from home, but they have two offices because Suzanne can’t work in the same room as Jeff, she said.
During a party their sophomore year they hooked up, “nothing too salacious, but we did kind of hook up,” Suzanne said.
After that, Jeff asked her what they were going to tell people at work the next day, because he was worried about what they would think, he said.
Suzanne thought he was embarrassed and didn’t talk to him for six months. Jeff would “bum smokes off her” because it was the only way she would talk to him.
Their junior year, Suzanne moved into a house where State Newsers always used to live on Charles Street.
“I lived there for a year, and this is during the time, though, that Jeff would drive me crazy, and I would tell people, ‘don’t go out with him, he’s too loud,’” Suzanne said.
“We were still friends, we were still friends, right or not at all?” Jeff said.
“We were kind of friends,” Suzanne said.
At the end of their junior year, Jeff moved into the house and they became real friends.
They would be the first in the house awake after parties so they would collect and return cans and then go out to breakfast. They would also go to happy hour together at the Landshark Bar and Grill, while dating other people the other person didn’t like, Suzanne said.
“Even if we were dating other people, him and I would be out all the time,” Suzanne said.
Suzanne graduated in May 1993 and moved home to Dearborn, while Jeff was in school until December.
“I always had my eye on Suzanne, and once she moved out I realized, I really want to be with her,” Jeff said.
Jeff’s brother tried to get them to date, and eventually they did.
“It all kind of fell into place, and like six months later we were moved in together, moved to Iowa,” Suzanne said.
Jeff had a reporting job and Suzanne found a job at a radio station.
“When Jeff and I got together, everybody we knew was either like, ‘oh, I knew that was going to happen’ or they were like, ‘ew, that’s gross.’ … There was nobody in between,” Suzanne said.
They moved back to Michigan and married in September 1997. They have two daughters, Isabela, age 16, and Lily, age 13.
They agree that their paths would not have crossed without The State News.
“I think it was meant to happen,” Suzanne said. “I think it was meant to be.”
“That’s nice,” Jeff said.
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