Meet Mina and Ventzi, who are both from Sofia, Bulgaria, and are now Denver residents living here in Lowry. They are miles away from Bulgaria, but Denver and the U.S. are their home. She’s a prominent UCHealth eye surgeon and glaucoma specialist, and he is a mechanical engineering professor at the Colorado School of Mines. This energetic and delightful couple were miles away from each other and had not fate or providence tapped them each on the shoulder and got them both to the same party in Boston twenty-five years ago, none of this story would matter.
And that party was very nice, but they went off their separate ways. A year and a half later they ran into each on the streets of Boston, what luck, and “Oh, I remember you,” kind of lines floated above them, and they met for coffee or a drink and saw each other off and on. “I took my time,” she said. They fell in love and got married back in Sofia, Bulgaria, so we will start their story there.
Mina was born in Sofia which was then a socialist country behind the Iron Curtain. She attended medical school in Bulgaria and graduated in 1998 and had dreams of one day reaching America and becoming an ophthalmologist. She was able to do her internship, residency and a fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School.
Ventzi was also born in Sofia. After getting a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, he moved to Boston in 1998. He finished his Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh while Mina was doing her ophthalmology training. They both learned English through classes, tutoring, Beatles songs, and also Michael Jakson songs. “I know most of the words in Michael Jackson’s Thriller album,” Mina says laughing.
Mina had a friend, a fellow on one of her post-educational trainings, at UCHealth in Denver who invited her to come to Denver for a job. In 2009, Mina and Ventzi moved to Colorado and started looking for a home on the east side of Denver to be closer to her work. The houses here in Lowry on the east side were just being built around the wonderful Tailwind Park; they bought one and have been homeowners in Lowry since 2009. They had come a long way from Sofia, had years of education, and now jobs they love.
Ventzi found a job at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden in the Mechanical Engineering Department and has been there for 15 years. He’s been published many times on topics like “Life production modeling of thermal barrier-coated turbine airfoils.” Just so you know what to talk to him about if you meet him!
Together they are brilliant and have a great lifestyle, work style, and two sons now 12 and 15. Their neighbor Dwight Willis says Ventzi is treasurer of their HOA, and does “a lot of the work himself on home issues rather than hiring a contractor thus saving homeowners’ money. They make our neighborhood great and Lowry a wonderful community.”
They spend time in the summer taking the family back to Bulgaria for the boys to see their grandparents. Bulgaria is now a tourist destination with beautiful mountains, picturesque valleys and the warm Black Sea.
And how do Lowry and Denver compete with the rest of the world? “We love it here,” Mina says with Ventzi agreeing, “and the kids like having a park right across the street. The neighborhood is convenient, and the mountains are great for families with kids.”
For many years, they were on the East Coast. “But then, we were always studying and working, but we knew Colorado was different and Denver is a great place, so we’re happy here,” says Mina. Mina and Ventzi agree that “timing is everything in life,” so they manage their busy work and family lives and are thankful for a meeting long ago on the streets of Boston. As we parted, Mina said, “after all, life is a series of actions, and one often comes back to help you later.” Yes, it’s true, and all their timing is right on time.
Meet Your Lowry Neighbors is a monthly feature written by our intrepid reporter Sally Kurtzman, who knows everyone in our community. If you have a suggestion for a Meet Your Lowry Neighbors, please send us an email to connect@lowryunitedneighborhoods.org.