“He gave me butterflies,” says Kathi (Jurewicz) Puishys ’81 with a smile.
But it wasn’t always the case.
Joe Puishys ’80, who serves as vice chair of Bryant’s Board of Trustees, first spotted Kathi in Bryant’s Rotunda in the fall of 1977 and, for a long time, she didn’t even know he existed.
“He says we met,” she laughs. “But I didn’t meet him for another three years.”
Joe, a sophomore, was immediately struck. “She had this long, blonde hair down her back and I just thought, wow. That’s the one,” he says. “But I was in a fraternity, working a corporate job, and honestly not looking to settle down.”
Kathi was busy, too, joining a sorority, digging into her coursework, and navigating her first year at Bryant.
Joe kept his distance until his senior year. “I figured, it’s now or never,” he says. “So I asked her out.”
She turned him down. Twice.
“I knew he was a Delta Sig,” Kathi says. “And that was a no-go for me.
Joe wasn’t dissuaded, however. “I told her to ask her sorority sister about me,” he says. “I had a job, wore a suit to class, carried a briefcase. I thought that might help my case.”
He asked a third time and offered to take her to dinner at Capriccio, one of the nicest restaurants in Providence. Joe had 100 hard-earned dollars in his pocket and a plan to spend every dime.
"I said yes,” Kathi says. “I mean, it was Capriccio. But also, I realized he wasn’t like the others. He was thoughtful, kind. He paid attention.”
“We were walking in the trees behind the Unistructure. I told her I wanted to marry her.”
Their first date was Valentine’s Day, 1980. By April, they were engaged.
“We were walking in the trees behind the Unistructure,” Joe remembers. “I told her I wanted to marry her.”
Kathi said yes, but not before making it clear that she wanted to finish her senior year at Bryant.
Joe was career-focused, already juggling school and a demanding job. Kathi was the more studious of the two. “He never went to the library until he started dating me,” she laughs. “And even then, he’d show up with a book, sit next to me for ten minutes, and fall asleep.”
“I studied her,” Joe says. “Not the books.”
He won her over with small, consistent displays of kindness and humor. He showed up to her dorm with little gifts, taught her how to shift gears in his manual Toyota Corolla, and once left a bottle of her favorite perfume in his glove compartment. He even gave her a giant stuffed bear, nearly her size, named "The General" after his fraternity nickname.
There was also the cowboy hat. “He used to wear this big brown hat, like Clint Eastwood,” Kathi recalls. “When he hugged me, I’d stand under the brim and feel completely protected.”
They laugh now at the chaos of their early marriage — including a honeymoon mishap involving a forgotten wallet, missing travelers’ checks, and a locked vintage suitcase — but those years set the tone for what would become a full life together with their two kids and many beloved dogs.
Joe’s career took them from Rhode Island to Ohio, California, Michigan, and Minnesota. He held executive roles at AlliedSignal and Honeywell before becoming CEO of Apogee Enterprises. Kathi, a shoe buyer turned volunteer guide dog trainer, adapted through each move.
Eventually, they drifted away from Bryant. “Life just moved on,” Joe says.
That changed, though, after a call from the university’s alumni office. One shared story led to another, which led to a renewed sense of connection. “It reminded us of what Bryant meant to us,” Kathi says.
The Puishys have since established a scholarship fund for students from military and first responder families. Their most visible contribution to Bryant — the Puishys Residence Complex, which will open for juniors and seniors this fall — cements their legacy on campus.
“We wanted to do something meaningful,” says Joe. “A place where students could build the kinds of friendships and memories we did.”
As for those butterflies Joe gave her so long ago — the ones that didn’t miraculously appear but were earned?
“They’re still there,” she says.