Love at first flight!

Former U.S. Vice President and Minnesota Statesman Hubert Humphrey once said, “The road to freedom — here and everywhere on earth — begins in the classroom.” 

In Eden Prairie, the classroom was also the first stop on the road to love for some happy couples!

From No Words to “I Do”

Giang Nguyen (‘06) could never have guessed that the cute American girl, Elizabeth Leppart (‘06), helping him during his English language lessons at Oak Point Intermediate School would one day be his wife. Sure, he had a crush on her — but he didn’t have the English words yet to tell her. It was 1998 and Nguyen had just arrived in Eden Prairie from Vietnam. 

Leppart wasn’t the only thing catching Nguyen’s eye as a newcomer to the U.S. “I have such happy memories of my time at Eden Prairie Schools. The quality of education I received was so high,” Nguyen remembered. “My school in Vietnam — a private, French-sponsored school — had one television for the entire school. At Eden Prairie, I saw overhead projectors in every classroom and multiple TVs wheeled into our rooms for educational programming.” 

The two lost touch as they moved through middle school. In high school, Leppart played percussion in Eagle Band and was in the drumline. “The music program with Mr. Whipkey was such fun,” she remembered. They both graduated in 2006, but attended different colleges and took jobs in other parts of the country. 

But fate didn’t rest long: They were reacquainted as adults in 2018 through a mutual friend and became engaged in June 2022 on the grassy front lawn of Oak Point, where they first met. 

After marrying in 2023 and honeymooning in Vietnam, the couple now works in the Twin Cities as a software developer (Nguyen) and nutritionist (Leppart). They’ve bought a starter home in Eden Prairie, where they love being close to both sets of their parents. 

Eden Prairie Schools continues to play a part in the couple’s lives, as they watch Leppart’s 4-year-old niece learn and grow at her aunt’s very own elementary school, Eden Lake. 

 

El Amor Comienza en la Clase de Español 

Kristina Holt (‘96) didn’t quite know what to make of the guy staring at her from across the room in her ninth grade Spanish class in 1992. But she had to laugh at the silly ways Ryan Fey (‘96) held up pieces of clothing as they were learning how to identify them in Spanish. Working on group projects and hanging out in the band room sealed the deal. 

Their first date was “Swing Kids” at the Eden Prairie Center movie theater. She became a competitive cheerleader who had the opportunity to cheer for her boyfriend on the football team. Both Holt and Fey graduated in 1996 with a class of around 500 students. They got engaged the December before their college graduations in 2000 and married a little over two years later, when Ryan was in his second year of medical school.

Twenty-two years later, the Feys have three kids and live in Edina. Ryan is a doctor specializing in trauma and burn care, and Kristina manages their home and three kids. 

You might run into two of the Fey kids if you frequent the Eden Prairie Community Center — they were recruited to work there by their granddad, Ed. A neighboring address couldn’t keep them away. The Fey legacy continues in Eden Prairie!

 

 

Sliding Doors 

Nancy Vest was only 13 and new to Eden Prairie in 1967 when her future husband, her friend’s brother, peeked out from behind a sliding door
to check out the girls at his younger sister’s party. “I wasn’t so sure about him,” Vest said, “but he liked me right away. So did my mom when she met him!” Vest (‘72) went on to marry that boy behind the door, Terry Eggan (‘71). They were just 21 and 22. 

Vest remembers idyllic days in Eden Prairie fondly: the big open spaces and the small town feel. Eggan’s family had horses then, convenient transportation they could ride and tie up at the Little Red Store when they went in to get a pop. Graduating classes were smaller — only around 100 students. 

But there were big-world challenges, too:
The Vietnam War was raging, and Vest worried. She was relieved when Eggan’s draft number was not called.

Today, Eggan is a real estate agent and Vest is retired from directing a senior services organization. The couple still revels in the Eden Prairie community, where they count their former Eden Prairie High School Assistant Principal Curt Connaughty as a friend. “Curt used to scare me, because he once sent me home from school for wearing a crop top that showed my belly button,” Vest laughed. 

Connaughty, Vest and Eggan all enjoyed the historic Eden Prairie Citywide Prom, where they celebrated a lifelong connection started by a curious boy at his younger sister’s party.

 

Remembering the Greatest Generation

The schools in Eden Prairie Al Picha (‘30) and Abbie Tuckey (‘30) knew aren’t the ones you see today.

Members of Eden Prairie High School’s second graduating class, which was only 13 students in 1930, Tuckey and Picha attended schools surrounded by farmland. They didn’t have extracurricular activities like prom and homecoming, and school offered just one official sport: basketball.

Tuckey adored sports and played as a guard on an unofficial Eden Prairie women’s basketball team. Al was also a basketball star who made a shot from half-court to win a championship game against Bloomington in 1929. The athletic letters awarded to students for high school accomplishments were actually designed by Picha that year — and he was the first Eden Prairie athlete to receive one. His design lived on for many years as the official Eden Prairie Schools logo. 

The arts also played an important part in the lives of these athletes. Tuckey was a skilled pianist. Picha painted watercolors — with his right hand, as required by his teachers at the time, even though he was left-handed.

In the face of the Great Depression, Tuckey and Picha were determined to start their life together on solid ground. Instead of marrying early, they both worked hard on their families’ farms for the next 10 years to have enough money to buy their own farm by
the time they married. Al took on additional odd jobs, like rock picking for 25 cents a day. They married in 1940. Their son Ken Picha was a member of Eden Prairie’s Class of 1966 and his brother Dwight Picha graduated in 1972.

Al and Abbie stayed on their farm in Eden Prairie well into their 90s, not leaving until 2003. Al passed away in 2008 and Abbie in 2010 — just shy of her 100^th birthday. Their farm is now partially covered in Eden Prairie homes (some likely housing today’s Eden Prairie Schools students) and also contributed to Bent Creek Golf Course. Just as Al’s EP still proudly crowns the Historic Gym stage curtains, the legacy of this quintessential Eden Prairie couple lives on today.