Kings and queens of the prom

The High School Sweethearts
David Pace and Bob Moon
Hoover High School
North Canton, Ohio
Class of 1973

David: I saw him that first day of Miss Neglucci's art class. He sat with his friends from Catholic school at one table; and I was with the more outré people. We hit it off right away, even though we were sitting at opposite ends of the room. Then we ended up sitting at the same lunch table.

Bob: He walked in the room, and I had a huge crush. At the time, I didn't know what the hell to do about it. Because it was so unexpected. And what are you going to do about it in an environment that curses it?

So we became best friends. We had a really ideal, fabulous relationship before it was ever physical. First of all, the thing that bound us to one another most tightly was a commonality of thought: we were interested in the same things; we took the same art classes; and we were in the same little singing group. So we did all that stuff together.

We actually went all through high school before we consummated our relationship. And we didn't even discuss it until senior year.

David: It's hard to understand, but you just didn't couch things in those terms -- not in the Midwest in the 1970s. It was very tentative.

Bob: Of course, we went to the prom together -- we did everything together. I just thought prom was stupid, but if we had to do it, we might as well do it together.

We double dated: David went with Judy Lukens, and Jody Matthie was my date. I went with her because she was a really pretty, lovely, nice girl -- and we weren't looking to find a girl to marry or lay. I mean, it was not this nasty case of using her just to spend the evening with him; that's just who I wanted to go with.

I've forgotten a lot, because, you know, I didn't wear my glasses that night. But I suppose, if you want to get all dewy-eyed about it, I can remember dancing with my date and thinking, I wish I was dancing with David. And I remember what he wore: that brown suit.

David: That was the year of really, really hideous tuxes; we're talking about powder-blue velvet tuxedoes. No way was I going to wear that. In fact, we both wore suits, which was really pioneering. Bob's suit was blue with a little bit of white; it was polyester.

We got to the prom about nine. It was in the gym. We were at the prom until eleven. Then we dumped the girls off -- which was the correct thing to do -- and we drove around for hours by ourselves in Bob's father's midnight-blue Buick Electra. And the first time we kissed -- it was in that car. Boy, that was a little seduction machine; the backseat was as wide as a sofa.

Bob: Both of our families are kind, but they come from conservative, religious backgrounds. Had we been found out, there's a really good chance that the knee-jerk reaction would have been, "Get out of our house."

Still, it's not like we were just celibate little boys. In fourth grade I had this hot thing going with a friend of mine. It went on for a while, then it stopped. Then in eighth grade we had these giant orgies, and he and I were always with one another. Then there was like a two-year hiatus, and one night it was just like bang! all over again. So there was always something going on. But David and I had become such important figures to one another -- it was almost like there was a time when it was the right thing to do rather than just tawdry.

David: Oh, I had lots of boyfriends before Bob. I can't say I was a slut, but you know, pubescent slap and tickle. I didn't go there with Bob, because I didn't think he would respect me if he thought I was a tramp. So I just played it cool until I was sure.

I think I really knew the summer after graduating high school. He was going to go to Notre Dame, and his parents wanted him to. But I talked him out of it. And that's when I thought ...

Bob: He really didn't have to talk me out of it. I didn't want to be away from him. And I didn't want to go back to a whole Catholic regimen at a university that did nothing for me. Then you stacked that up against going to Kent State, a very liberal school with someone you're mad about.

We lived in separate dorm rooms that first year of college, but we always had dinner together. It was really a natural progression that had stewed for such a long time that, when it happened, it was hot in every way -- mentally, physically. It was just really wonderful.

David, a graphic artist and creative director, and Bob, an architect, have been partners for over 30 years. They live in New York.

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