Alumni Couple Jeremy L. Nelson and Adam Kopfman
Jeremy L. Nelson and Adam Kopfman have a typical busy, non-stop life with their two very active kids. The couple met at auditions in August of 2002 when they were both music theatre majors at CMU.
“During Jeanine Howe’s first production of The Wizard of Oz,” said Nelson. It certainly made some magic happen between the two of them and they started dating in September. “It was quite the dramatic start.”
After the two were engaged in December of 2002, they decided to exchange vows in September of 2005.
“We were tired of waiting for it (marriage) to become legal,” said Nelson.
After moving to Iowa in 2007, they were legally married in September of 2009 by their Grand Junction minister.
While at CMU, Nelson changed his major to biology with a concentration in pre-med, which has served him well. In addition to being an emergency physician assistant (PA) for four different hospitals in Iowa, the 2006 graduate is one of six faculty in the University of Iowa, Carver College of Medicine’s PA program.
Kopfman stayed in the theatre program, and before graduating in 2005, started working at a local Grand Junction bakery where he found his new passion in the confectionary arts. He now has a thriving business called Tip Top Cakes, which specializes in wedding cakes as well as pies, cakes for all occasions, cinnamon buns and, Kopfman’s personal favorite, cookies.
Nelson and Kopfman made their family complete with the adoption of newborns Gracen in 2013 and Presley in 2014. When asked about the adoption process, Nelson said it was “Amazing. Scary. All of the above,” as any new parent would tell you.
The couple strive to make family time together with yearly vacations, often to foreign countries.
They both agree that marriage is about shared life goals and interest in each other’s success.
As for the everyday, the couple say hello as they cross paths in the morning and then have an hour or so after the kids have gone to bed.
“That is, if we’re still awake,” said Nelson.