CDC romance reignites on Facebook

Finding Love Over Play-Doh At The Child Development Center

A year from now when Summer Kendall and Nelson DaSilva tie the knot it will be the next step in a love story that began over crayons and Play-Doh over 20 years ago. Summer and Nelson met as students at Gallaudet’s Child Development Center (CDC) in 1988 when they were both five years old.

Summer is the daughter of Deborah Kendall, who taught at CDC for several years. Nelson is the son of former Gallaudet employees Deborah and Armindo DaSilva — who are also alumni and who also met and fell in love on campus.

The pair was apparently infatuated with each other from the start and liked to kiss before nap time, which resulted in their parents being called into a conference. After leaving CDC, Summer and Nelson didn’t keep in touch, but their parents liked to tease them about their sweetheart from the CDC days.
Nelson joined the Marines after high school and served two deployments to Iraq. While spending long hours standing guard, Nelson and his buddies would share stories about their childhood. Nelson shared the story of the little girl he kissed when he was five, which got him thinking, “Whatever happened to her?”
After being discharged, Nelson looked Summer up on Facebook.

It turned out they both have a love of winter sports: Summer had been a competitive figure skater and Nelson plays ice hockey. They also discovered that Nelson played at the same rink where Summer coached figure skating, and they had likely seen each other often in passing for a year before they reconnected on Facebook. Summer’s mother likes to say that they were destined to reconnect; it was just a matter of how and when.

Nelson is attending school full time studying information technology. Summer graduated from the University of Maryland, where she is now working on her MBA, and also works for the Association of Organ Procurement.
Their wedding date is scheduled for October 15, 2011.