Alumni who met their match at TFS
These alumni received more than an exceptional education at TFS, they also found their partner for life.
Take a stroll through the history of TFS and it won’t be long before you discover that, in addition to coming away with an exceptional education and foundation for future academic, personal and professional success, over a dozen alumni also met their significant other while they were both students at the school. In nearly every decade since TFS was founded in 1962, you will find at least one graduating class with a pair of alumni who later joined together in matrimony. Among those alumni are Marc Pfeiffer ’00 and Shirley Wang ’00 and Mark Ball ’80 and Frugina Ambrus Ball ’80.
It was during the viewing of a condo they had purchased together that Marc got down on one knee. At first, Shirley was under the impression he was performing an inspection. As he reached into his inside jacket pocket, she expected him to pull out a measuring tape. Instead, Marc presented Shirley with an engagement ring and proposed. Shirley said yes.
Nearly a decade later, Marc and Shirley have stayed connected to TFS, both as alumni and, in the last few years, as proud parents. Their daughter Isabella is now in Grade 1 and their son James started Junior Kindergarten this year.
“It wasn’t much of a discussion,” admits Shirley in regards to sending their children to TFS. “We didn’t look anywhere else.” Marc agrees. “We had such positive experiences at the school and kept in touch with some teachers. It was an easy decision.”
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A TFS affair
Recounting the story of Marc and Shirley, it’s safe to say it was a TFS affair. The ultimate credit might lie at the feet of Shirley’s sister, Sheila Wang, who graduated two years prior to her sibling in 1998. As Shirley tells it, after a brief time at a different high school, Sheila told her parents she needed more of a challenge and convinced them to send her to TFS. Shirley followed in her sister’s footsteps, beginning her TFS journey in grade seven. Marc, whose parents felt it was important for him to be able to speak French in a bilingual country, was already at the school, having started in what is today La p'tite école. While Marc and Shirley knew each other and had classes together, they were in different friend circles. It wasn’t until a few years after graduating that a deeper connection began to kindle. Richard Lam, a mutual friend and Class of 2000 alumnus, invited them to a cottage for the weekend. Shirley caught a ride back to Toronto with Marc and, at least 48 hours later to Shirley’s acute recollection, Marc asked her out on a date. After completing their respective undergraduate degrees at University of Toronto – Marc in computer science, Shirley a double major in English literature and life science – Shirley went to medical school abroad. Shortly following her return, the couple decided to take the next step in their relationship.
It was during the viewing of a condo they had purchased together that Marc got down on one knee. At first, Shirley was under the impression he was performing an inspection. As he reached into his inside jacket pocket, she expected him to pull out a measuring tape. Instead, Marc presented Shirley with an engagement ring and proposed. Shirley said yes.
Nearly a decade later, Marc and Shirley have stayed connected to TFS, both as alumni and, in the last few years, as proud parents. Their daughter Isabella is now in Grade 1 and their son James started Junior Kindergarten this year.
“It wasn’t much of a discussion,” admits Shirley in regards to sending their children to TFS. “We didn’t look anywhere else.” Marc agrees. “We had such positive experiences at the school and kept in touch with some teachers. It was an easy decision.”
While they have noticed changes, particularly the expansion of the campus, there are many similarities and familiar faces from their time here as well.
“That sense of community that was there when we were here has been strengthened even more,” notes Shirley. “There are workshops for parents throughout the year, Level V does a parade around the campus when they graduate, students from each branch come together for different occasions – all these opportunities that really create a closer connection to the school,” she adds. “Younger students get to see the older students and it is inspiring and motivating for them.”
Marc and Shirley are also generous supporters. Part of what motivates their generosity is “that overarching idea of contributing back to the community,” says Marc. “Instilling the next generation with the values the school teaches and building future leaders that will go on to make a difference in the world and for our planet, I believe that’s an important cause and it resonates with me.”
“TFS set a foundation that prepared me so much for my own future and I want to do that for our kids and others,” adds Shirley.
When fate, family and the Alumni Association intervenes
“I have to attribute our marriage to the alumni association,” says Frugina Ambrus Ball, alluding to the fact that though she and husband Mark Ball met – and even flirted – while high school students at TFS, it wasn’t until after graduating that they began dating.
The year was 1988. The TFS Alumni Association was holding an event and Frugina’s mother insisted Frugina attend. Mark had just finished a long week of work and was planning to skip the event as well, but once again, a fellow alumnus stepped in to open the door to fate. Bruce Levitt ’80, a former TFS classmate and president of the alumni association at the time, called Mark and implored him to show up. When the event was over, Mark and Frugina went out together for drinks and, in Frugina’s words, “we’ve been together ever since.”
Like Marc Pfeiffer, Mark Ball started at TFS in La p'tite école and the primary reason his mother and father chose the school was their belief in the inherent bilingualism of Canada. It was a rare perspective in the mid-sixties, but one Mark would come to understand later in life.
“I can now look back and see how the school became a microcosm of a global world, with teachers and students that came from everywhere and we just accepted people for who they were,” says Mark. “We’d listen to our teacher’s from Africa and what they went through to get here, or teachers from Vietnam or Eastern Europe and what they went through, and it all became very real for us. It made us non-judgemental in our approach and really opened our eyes to a global environment.”
In common with Shirley Wang, Frugina came to TFS in the seventh grade. After elementary school, her parents decided to move her into the independent system for her secondary school education. Originally they chose an all girls institution, however Frugina made her case for co-ed. Although her experience was different from Mark’s, they both formed lifelong friendships with many of their TFS classmates that are still going strong.
“We created these lasting bonds that in our experience is not common in many of the larger schools,” says Frugina. “We’re close to at least twelve or fifteen classmates that we regularly communicate with to this day, many of them are coming to our daughter’s wedding later this year.”
Their daughter, Julia Ball, is also a TFS alumnus, Class of 2015. At parent teacher meetings when she was a student, Mark and Frugina would often run into friends from their school days and a few teachers as well. In one instance, a teacher who taught both them and Julia brought their old report cards to a meeting and playfully demonstrated which strengths clearly came from the mother and which came from the father.
In addition to the close knit community at TFS and teachers who took the time to really get to know and care for students, Mark and Frugina were pleased the school continued to be similar in other ways they cherished.
“There was this sense of curiosity that was instilled in us and that’s part of the critical thinking aspect that the school prides itself on and is today part of the IB framework,” says Mark. “The way we looked at and approached problems and situations was different than students at other schools and that encouragement to always question and think for yourself really served us well later on in life.”
“In the upper levels, teachers didn’t treat you like children and really spoke to you where you were. They were extremely approachable and you could truly talk to them about anything,” adds Frugina.
After graduating in 1980, Mark went on to do his undergraduate degree at Western and MBA at Dalhousie. Frugina completed her bachelor in zoology and a master’s in epidemiology, both at University of Toronto, and then an MBA at Queen's University. They stayed connected to TFS, giving both time, support and guidance, with Frugina serving as treasurer on the Alumni Association and Mark as president, as well as being a part of the Head’s Selection Committee over the years.
Of all Mark and Frugina have done for and at TFS however, Mark is quick to underscore that, “meeting my life partner was the crowning achievement.”
Are you an alumni couple that met at TFS? Share your story with us by connecting with Rebecca Schmidtke, TFS Alumni Relations Officer at rschmidtke@tfs.ca.
