Mr. Gilligan and Ms. Lindermayer’s Story

It was the fall of the year 1999. Mr. Gilligan, a 6th and 8th grade teacher at the time, would look through his window in room 213 into 208 where new Ms. Lindermayer was student teaching her 6th grade class. For months he would pass her in the halls, spot her through his window, and see her leave the building (as they were both usually the last to leave). However, despite how often they encountered each other, he could never build up enough courage to talk to her. It wasn’t until he learned from a colleague that Ms. Lindermayer would be leaving Masterman in the spring to work for a Spanish speaking congresso when he thought “this is my chance!”

Mr. Gilligan recalled the day he finally decided to get to know Kirsten Lindermayer as “quite funny and embarrassing.” It was late after school when he looked through his window and to no surprise, there she was sitting at her desk. He slowly walked across the hall and knocked on the door of room 208. “I felt like a complete idiot,” Mr. Gilligan said. “She told me she would be there in a minute because she was grading papers and then I just stood there for a while,” said Mr. Gilligan between laughs.

That day, Mr. Gilligan asked out Ms. Lindermayer and on May 1, 2000 they went on their first date. They went to dinner at Bridges, which unfortunately no longer exists today. “We had a really nice time at the restaurant; I was so excited the whole time,” remembered Mr. Gilligan. However, after they finished eating, they had not finished their conversation and did not want to part ways just yet. They decided to go on a “short” walk that turned into a three hour stroll. That was when Mr. Gilligan realized that he really liked her and that this might be the start of something bigger.

Ms. Lindermayer quickly became an important part of Mr. Gilligan’s life and the word spread among their students quickly. Not long after their first date though, he had to leave to go to Chattanooga, Moldova. “It sucked, I met a girl that’s terrific and then I had to leave for work and miss her birthday,” Mr. Gilligan said. He ultimately decided to send her flowers for the special occasion but this task was not as simple as it sounded. Twenty years ago, ordering flowers using a cell phone was not possible. Mr. Gilligan went out of his way to find the only computer in the town to order the flowers.