Ship happens to San Diego Siblings

The boat’s name is a conversation piece at marinas according to the Lenches, who are more than happy to detail all the reasons they gave their boat its distinctive game.

A little more than a year ago, a rumor circulated among the Shippensburg field hockey players. It seems one player was coming from California. The rumor made Liz Lench smile since she was the player in question and indeed she was from California.

Liz began her hunt for a competitive field hockey program two years ago. She culled clips from her high school team’s tape, conveniently taken by her mother, and put together a video of her game highlights. She sent the video to coaches of programs she was interested in, including the number-one ranked team in Division II, Shippensburg. The video was effective and Liz received several offers.

Next came the campus visits. Liz and her mom Jeni visited Ship over Halloween weekend. And as Jeni said, “We saw the Ship vs. Bloomsburg championship game and we both fell in love with the school, the coach, and the team.”

Returning to California, Jeni told her co-workers and friends about the round of visits. She told them there was one in Pennsylvania they really liked but at the time of the telling she could only remember the name started with an S. “It’s not Shippensburg, is it?” friend and co-worker Cathy (Stanford) Chesire ’67 asked. It surprised the two ladies to learn the small university Liz was considering was Cathy’s alma mater!

Once Cathy knew it was Shippensburg, she regaled the Lenches with her memories of then Shippensburg State Teachers College.

Once on campus, Liz found Coach Bertie Landes goes out of her way to make every player feel at home and part of the team. For players like Liz who cannot get home for short vacations, Coach Landes opens her home, including home cooked meals.

In January, Liz’ younger brother, Robert, came for a visit. Ideally he wanted to experience snow. He was in the middle of his own search for a college and his parents were sure he would pick a California school. He too fell in love with Ship and the idea of going to college at the same place his sister was attending.

Rick and Jeni met at Oregon State University and as parents, “we hoped both kids would find that small town college experience that we had found in Corvallis so many years ago. Shippensburg was exactly what we were looking for. Small town, small classes, qualified professors, and an excellent education.”

The Lenches are one of many San Diego residents who own a boat. Recently they acquired a new boat that was in need of a new name. (“It had a dorky name,” Jeni said.) The whole family was in on finding a new name. They settled on “Ship Happens.” According to Jeni, “One it was a clever name for a boat and it worked nicely with where our kids are.” And the whole family enjoyed seeing Ship clothing emblazoned with the phrase.

“We get lots of comments about the name and we always tell folks about the excellent university in Pennsylvania. We had Liz send us t-shirts so we have an Official Crew Uniform,” Jeni smiles.

Robert and Liz, future SU alumni, breakfasted with their dad, Rick, Linda L. Miller ’77 from the SU Foundation, family friend Cathy (Stanford) Chesire ’67, and their mom Jeni shortly before leaving for Ship.