There's No "Mauck"ing Real Love

In honor of Valentine’s Day, two MHS staff members, Rene Mauck and Scott Mauck, share their love story and opinions on the holiday.

Amaya Wagner '24

Whether you love it or hate it, the day has finally come. Valentine’s Day is a holiday in which we get to celebrate the people we love, and love is definitely spreading through the hallways of MHS. Rene Mauck, advisor of the MHS Drama Department, and Scott Mauck, MHS Freshman Class Counselor and Head Wrestling Coach, have been married for almost 33 years. Their love story sounds like something out of a “Lifetime movie” as Mrs. Mauck puts it.

“We met at church in 1986 in Beaverton, Oregon, where we were both volunteers for a student ministry, working with high school students,” they said.

But the “happily ever after” part of the movie didn't come right off the bat.

The Maucks on their wedding day!

“We did not like each other - Scott thought I was “stuck-up,” and I thought he was a jerk,” said Mrs. Mauck, “One time, I was put on the same “team” as Scott - and I was super annoyed because I did not want to be on a team for a full week with “that jerk”. EXCEPT - once we got to camp and started working together, I completely changed my mind and decided he was cute and we got along really well all week.”

Eventually, Mrs. Mauck had to go back to her teaching position in Taiwan. The two of them kept in touch through writing letters, since it was 1988 and they couldn’t text or email. They wrote said letters back and forth for a year, but once Mrs. Mauck got back from Taiwan, they began dating and got married in the summer of 1989.

Being in a solid, healthy relationship that continuously thrives, doesn’t always come easy. The Maucks shared their best advice to keep a relationship working.

“Relationships are not hard, but they do take work. Everyone always talks about finding the “right” person which could be a selfish point of view. You need to work on being the right person for someone else. It isn’t a 50-50 prospect - a healthy relationship is 100-100. Work on being everything your partner needs, not making your partner become everything you want,” they said.

Even though they both stress the importance of working on being the right person, they both are able to identify traits and favorites that the other person possesses.

Mrs. Mauck’s favorite thing about her husband is that he is a perfect balance for her. Where she has struggles/weaknesses, he has strengths.

“And he has a quick wit, which I love,” said Mrs. Mauck

Mr. Mauck can’t choose just one of his favorite things about his wife. To use a sports term, he thinks he definitely outkicked the coverage when it comes to his wife.

“My favorite thing about Rene is simply everything. I know that sounds corny, but I couldn’t put into words just one thing. She is almost always up for an adventure, she will try new things, she is extremely smart, beautiful, and talented,” said Mr. Mauck.

The couple has been living and teaching in Muscatine for years now. According to the website Indeed, there are tips to follow in order to leverage the pros of having shared employment with a significant other because it can mean shared interests and complementary personalities.

“I can’t think of any cons to working in the same building, because we truly don’t see each other much during the day, but one pro is that with our relationship. We have been able to build a pretty good bridge between the world of the Arts and the world of Athletics,” said Mr. Mauck.

Even though they don’t see much of each other at work, they spend lots of time together outside of MHS. They shared that they don’t acknowledge Valentine’s Day because they celebrate their love all year long.

“To be honest, it (Valentine’s day) just does not seem necessary. We go out and spend time together regularly - we don’t pinpoint that to just one day,” they said.