Meet Dr. Stanley Andrisse, a well-respected postdoctoral scientist in Pediatric Endocrinology and trainee leader at Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Dr. Andrisse was convicted of 2 felony drug charges and sentenced to 10 years in Missouri prison. After serving time for drug trafficking charges, Dr. Andrisse continued his education, obtaining his M.B.A and and PhD.
After overcoming many obstacles, Dr. Andrisse wanted to spread hope to those deemed hopeless by continuously delivering motivational speeches to inmates on the importance of education.
Stephanie recounts that night she met Stan while she was out with her sister Ashley.
Stephanie says, “Ashley and I were at the bar, snacking and talking when he walked over and started talking to me. For the life of me, I could not figure out why this handsome stranger was talking to me! I nervous-laughed through the entire conversation, while Ashley just watched me and giggled.
After that night….
She adds, “It wasn’t long when I received a Facebook friend request from him. I remember yelling down from upstairs, “Ashley, he wants to be my Facebook friend!!!” She giggled again. (She does that a lot.) Then, he messaged me. It was clear he wanted to take me out, but having just disentangled myself from a rough and very serious relationship, I was not quite ready. He thought I just didn’t like him. Seriously. He thought I didn’t think he was cute. *eye roll*
Anyways, with a perseverance anyone could admire, he kept messaging me every so often. FOR SIX MONTHS.
It took six months for him to finally get me to agree to go out with him. And there are not enough words in the English language for how thankful I am that he kept at it. I never once asked myself, What’s the best thing that could happen? But FYI, it’s this.
And when he asked me to be his wife under the Empire State Building on New Years, I of course said yes again.”
The pair married on June 26th, 2016, at St. Vincent De Paul Church in St. Louis.
Photo Source/Credit: Stan Andrisse
