When Erin and Fred Lehmann first met, they started off like any other couple, each with their own plans for their future set out. Little did they know their paths would intertwine, not only through marriage but working side by side at Wayland High School.

“When we met, Fred was working in the business world, and I was teaching,” Erin said. “I had no idea that he would ever become a teacher.”

The Lehmanns will be celebrating their 10th anniversary this summer, and they knew each other four years before getting married. They only began working together in the fall of 2012.

“When I decided to change careers and get into teaching, I made the decision because as much as I liked running my own business, after having a family I knew I didn’t want to do that in the long term,” Fred said. “I’d always wanted to teach, so I decided I wanted to get into teaching.”

To begin teaching, Fred knew he’d have to go back and get his masters, hoping to teach at the elementary level, but the job market for elementary teachers was bad. With a masters and background in business, the opportunity for a business job at WHS came up at the right time.

Erin had been working for eight years at the high school when Jim Page, the only business teacher at the time, approached her and asked if she would talk to her husband about interviewing for a new business teacher position.

“[Fred] asked me what I thought, if he should apply for the job, and I was really excited for him to do it,” Erin said.

After interviewing Fred, history department head Kevin Delaney decided he was best fit for the job.

“The pool of candidates was pretty good, but it turned out that he was the best, so it really had nothing to do with Ms. Lehmann’s connections,” Delaney said. “He literally was the best candidate for the position.”

Erin appreciated that Delaney checked with her before hiring Fred. She simply felt pure excitement to work with her husband, as he felt, in contrast to how her co-workers had reacted to the idea of what it’d be like to work with their own spouses.

“As far as I was concerned there was nothing to work out,” Fred said. “We were both excited about doing it.”

Despite possible complications that could come with spouses working in the same school, let alone in the same department, Fred and Erin got along as co-workers.

“All partners have squabbles in their lives, but they haven’t had any issues like that that I can certainly tell,” Delaney said. “They’re both very upbeat, positive people, and they compliment each other, so it’s worked out really well. “

Working with and supervising the two, Delaney came to admire their relationship.

“I think they’re an excellent model for young people about what a good healthy relationship is frankly,” Delaney said. “I really do believe that.”

Fred and Erin see working in the same school as something that strengthens their relationship rather than hinders it.

“I used to talk to him when I was stressed about work, and he listened to me and supported me, but now I know he totally gets what I’m talking about, so I feel like it’s brought us closer together because we’re sharing the same work experience,” Erin said.

Fred described their interactions while working as “professional,” though they barely see each other at school on a daily basis.

“It might be different in a different year, but the two years he has been here, literally when I’m teaching he’s free and vice versa, so I might see him at the very end of the day for a couple of minutes or maybe lunch sometimes,” Erin said.

Erin expressed the thrill of simply running into her husband every once in a while in the hallways.

“All of a sudden I’ll see him in the hall when we’re passing each other, and I’ll actually feel excited like, ‘Oh! How’s it going?’ because I don’t get to see him very much, so when I do get to talk to him at school, I’m pretty excited about it,” Erin said.

Fred sees the scarce amount of time to see each other at work as something to help him to appreciate their time afterwards.

“I’d say, in that we don’t have the opportunity to interact much during the school day, and because work is such a big part of daily life, it’s great to have that time outside of school to be able to talk about the frustrations or celebrations of things going on during the large part of our life,” Fred said.

Erin and Fred have two kids: Teddy and Gus, both who are in preschool and kindergarten, respectively. For Fred, being a father diminishes his energy to do work as a teacher at home, but he also sees the positive effects.

“[Having kids] also enhances [work life] because you have an appreciation of kids and what they’re going through, and it makes you sensitive to their perspective and needs, which I think makes you a better teacher,” Fred said.

So far their marriage has been running smoothly with no major bumps in the road, and they are completely happy with working together in the history department.

“I love the fact that we work together,” Erin said. “It makes me really happy, and I just feel very fortunate that this is how life turned out. I hope we do retire together; I think that’ll be awesome.”