KAREN, MOTHER

When five friends claimed the 116 Evanston house in the fall of 1991, none of them knew it would be a critter haven — and become a family legacy.

Karen McCoach Duppel ’92 was a religious studies major when she and fellow senior classmates Kelli Lyman, Jenny Sherer Striebick, Linda Phillips Mansfield and Laura Hamm Jimmar leveraged their class credits against the lottery system once used to assign houses in the student neighborhood.

“The house is joy,” Karen said. It was perfectly placed across the street from the “Flamingo House” where their friends lived, aptly named for the pink animals displayed on a sign out front.

Their Evanston house was the place where they forged bonds and formed memories that are still talked about years later.

“Before it was called Friendsgiving,” Karen said, “we made our first turkey dinner there during exam week to celebrate the holidays with our Dayton family.” Some of the highlights of Karen’s time at UD included making meals together and hanging out, doing nothing in particular at 116 Evanston.

The house wasn’t without its quirks, though.

“We had a problem with squirrels in the walls,” Karen said. “It was a weird kind of noise.” The animals would scratch and scatter so often, the roommates accepted that their house guests had maybe moved in permanently.

The group’s year in the house came and went, far too fast. Days of walking to the McGinnis Center to do laundry and nights of walking the student neighborhood with their empty cups finally came to an end with graduation.

They moved out of 116 Evanston, not knowing they would be brought back together in the same place decades later.

KATIE, DAUGHTER

On the front porch of 116 Evanston, junior Katie Duppel sits, reading a text from her mother that asks a distinctly UD question:

“Are you doing some porch sitting?”

It’s not the first time her mother has asked if she’s taking advantage of the neighborhood views.

“You go outside and you’re like, ‘Today would be such a great day to sit on the porch,’ and so I check in with Katie and ask,” Karen said.

It’s one of many parallel moments the mother and daughter share as current and former residents of the same UD house.

Katie chose UD out of her own volition, eager to make the same memories she heard her mother recount so fondly. As if by fate, Katie was placed in her mother’s old house for her junior-year residence.

When Katie first received the email that revealed she’d be living at 116 Evanston, she knew it sounded familiar. One quick phone call later confirmed it.

“I showed her the Google Maps Street View, and we immediately started crying,” Katie said. The fact that she would share a space so integral to her mom’s experience at UD wasn’t just validating her choice to be a Flyer; it was kismet.

“Right place, right time. It’s a sign telling me that this is where I’m meant to be,” Katie said.

It was her turn to continue the legacy of her mother — and create one of her own.

“She’s seen Dayton through my eyes,” said Karen, “but I wanted to make sure she chose Dayton for her own experience.

Since moving in, Katie and her roommates have taken advantage of the communal spaces, so much so that she has dubbed them “living room roommates.”

“When we’re all home, sitting in the same space, watching TV and talking to each other,” Katie said.

They were living up to the wish texted to them by Karen and her roommates: “Enjoy the time together, and make good memories that last a lifetime.”

FAMILY WEEKEND

Now equipped with a washer, dryer and air conditioning, 116 Evanston is only a little different than when Karen called the three-bedroom house home. The same odd inside layout remains — Katie’s bedroom beneath the stairs was newly nicknamed the Harry Potter room. Katie added a Philly corner, adorned with flags and icons of Katie’s home teams.

When they first found out, Karen’s old roommates couldn’t believe the odds of Katie now living in their old house, but for the Duppels, it just made sense.

“Things at Dayton don’t just happen by chance. We really believe there’s a reason she’s in that house,” Karen said, “whether it’s to know me better, to know herself better or to make those lifelong friends that I have now.”

“Things at Dayton don’t just happen by chance. We really believe there’s a reason she’s in that house,” Karen said, “whether it’s to know me better, to know herself better or to make those lifelong friends that I have now.”

Those friends returned to 116 Evanston this fall for Family Weekend, walking the familiar space with their trusty cups — before Katie explained that UD students don’t do that anymore.

“All you needed was a cup and you were ready to go,” Karen said. Nowadays, formal party invitations are sent via Google Calendar.

Katie even sent one for Family Weekend. Invitees, including Karen’s former housemates, received the note: “History repeats itself, keeping the decades of bad decisions going at 116 Evanston.”

Through old photographs, Karen’s roommates were able to give Katie and her roommates a glance into the past, even offering suggestions on how today’s occupants could decorate their new space.

Only one thing was noticeably missing, mentioned Karen’s roommate Jenny: “I can almost still hear the squirrels in the walls.”

And roommates past and present didn’t just share a laugh — they now shared a home.