Today, we live in a hook-up culture – a culture that promotes casual sex. One hundred years ago, a hook-up was not about casual sex. It was the precursor to a lifetime commitment. In 1911, my grandparents, Carl Murphy and Lula Vashti Turley “hooked up” at Howard University in Washington, D.C. – he, the German professor, and she, the German student; he, born in 1889, and she, five years earlier; he the Alpha man and she the co-founder of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.; he, the son of the founder of the Afro-American Newspaper; and she, the D.C. school teacher. It wasn’t until after she was graduated from Howard in 1913 that she invited the young handsome professor “to call”. But this was no ordinary hook-up! It was a courtship extraordinaire based on a strong faith in God, on who they were as individuals, as well as on who they hoped to become as a couple. Their remarkable letters ---published for the first time—are inspirational and instructive, as they reveal intimate details about their whirlwind courtship. “You love me then because my eyes are bright? Beauty will fade, but not the God in me, love that, beloved, to eternity”. Frances Murphy Draper (Pastor Toni) is a native of Baltimore, MD. In 2006, she received her doctor of ministry degree in preaching and leadership from the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. Her dissertation title was "Relationship Theology: A Model for Producing Healthy Marriages in the African American Context". Dr. Draper is the pastor of the Freedom Temple AME Zion Church in Baltimore, and the immediate past president and treasurer of the AFRO-American Newspapers - a publication founded by her great grandfather in 1892. Since 1995, Dr. Draper has been a gubernatorial appointee to the Morgan State University Board of Regents (her alma mater), where she serves as vice chair. She and her husband, Andre, have been married for more than 40 years and they have four children and 12 grandchildren. Dr. Draper has been a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. for nearly 50 years and is the granddaughter of Delta Co-founder, Vashti Turley Murphy.