SHAKER LIFE | WINTER 2015 47
“We were best friends throughout college.
Brian is vice president, Legal, for Aleris Corporation. Karen is a registered nurse and virtual franchise owner with
the Juice Plus Company.
How they met: Chemistry class – but there was no
immediate chemistry.
He says: I was new in town; we moved to Shaker my junior year.
I didn’t know anybody!
She says: I thought he was just a quiet, red-headed kid.
What brought them together: They participated in Shaker’s exchange
program in Goslar, Germany, where they became good friends.
She says: Brian was the designated photographer for the trip. He
took 36 rolls of film for slides. His mother later told my mother that
30 of those rolls were of me.
He says: We were best friends throughout college. Our senior
year in college, both of us were dating other people. The
four of us went out together for New Year’s Eve. The best 20
minutes of that night was when our dates both went to the
bathroom. A year later, we were at her parents’ house for
New Year’s Eve, and we had our first kiss in their kitchen.
After that, it was ON.
Married since: June 3, 1995. They were married at
St. Dominic Church in Shaker Heights.
Now: They moved back to Shaker in 2000 after living overseas.
Their youngest son, Connor, attends Onaway Elementary School;
middle son Kelan attends Shaker Middle School; and their oldest,
daughter Katherine, is a sophomore at the High School.
She says: Our experience at Goslar really shaped our love of
travel. One of our friends who was on the program with us,
Michael McElroy (SHHS ’85), called it before anyone else: he
sent me a postcard addressed to Karen Merchant Coate
years before we dated.
He says: I just remember driving Karen to
school every day of our senior year. We were
truly inseparable from that time on.
Sweethearts:
Brian Coate and
Karen Merchant Coate
both SHHS ’85.
Our senior year in coll ege, both of us were dating other people.
The four of us went out together for New Year’s Eve.
The best 20 minutes of that night was when our dates both
went to the bathroom .”