thedrifter
06-25-07, 06:13 AM
FROM FALLUJAH TO LAKE WYLIE
Bride's brother, from Iraq with love
A world away with the Marine Corps but there for his sister's wedding
DAVID PERLMUTT
dperlmutt@charlotteobserver.com
Devin Klein and Heidi Mauch, native Charlotteans both, married on Saturday.
Uncle Will from Austin, Texas, flew in for the wedding at the Red Fez Shrine Club on Lake Wylie.
So did Aunt Kathy from Seattle.
Cousins Brian, Kevin and Joel drove up from Atlanta.
Everyone was there -- except for the bride's brother, Weston Mauch, a Marine lance corporal serving his second tour in Iraq.
But the Marines -- along with a band of homefront "conspirators" -- were determined to get him there some way.
The newlyweds, both 24, met a year ago at WBTV, where he's a director and she's a producer. They announced their engagement May 6.
"Heidi's family was so sad that Weston couldn't be here," said the groom's irrepressible mother and lead conspirator, Moira Quinn, an executive for Charlotte Center City Partners. "A lightbulb came on -- maybe he could be."
Easing separation pains
Hooking up troops on the battlefield with their families -- especially for significant events -- is one way volunteers across the country are helping ease separation pains.Three weeks earlier at an April event, Quinn had met Jessica Howerton, an agent manager at the telecommunications company Paetec. With Paetec's encouragement, Howerton volunteers setting up video conferences between Marines and relatives through an Internet network provided by the nonprofit Freedom Calls Foundation.
Howerton jumped at the chance to help Quinn bring Weston to the reception on a two-way video hook-up.
"I have a lot of relatives in the military, and I know it's hard on the family at home when a loved one is deployed," Howerton said. "Peoples' lives continue. Babies are born. Kids have first birthdays. It goes a long way if they can talk to and see each other."
The first issue: the Red Fez needed a powerful DSL (direct satellite link) to make the connection from Iraq. After Quinn contacted club officials, they boosted their DSL. Technical support at AT&T was so moved by the story, they placed a rush on the installation so the link could be tested, Quinn said.
Meanwhile, she had to clue in Weston to the surprise.
Without blowing it, she sneakily got his e-mail address from Heidi. Weeks passed and she heard nothing. So she e-mailed Sgt. Maj. James Thetford, a Marine recruiter she'd met recently.
He wanted specifics about Weston's unit. She finagled from another of Heidi's brothers that Weston is assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines. So Thetford sent Quinn's request to a sergeant major in the 2/6. Hearing nothing, she called a friend, Marine Maj. Ed Moen, at Camp Lejeune and begged his help.
That was on June 14. Two days later, her request was granted.
"Anyone who saw me on Tryon Street when I got the message on my BlackBerry must have thought I was crazy," Quinn said. "There it was: If the Marine Corps said it was going to happen, it was going to happen."
A toast from Fallujah
And so it did.
A convoy drove Weston to the Chapel of Hope in Fallujah. At 6 a.m. Sunday Iraq time, 10 p.m. Saturday Charlotte time, he sat in front of a camera rehearsing his toast and waiting to see family.
What he didn't know: Internet disaster had struck at the Red Fez. The DSL link died.
"As the reception was going on, we were all frantically running around trying to get the link restored -- and not give away the surprise," Quinn said.
Yet by 10:25 p.m., as Howerton and husband Jeremy worked to resuscitate the link, Quinn took a microphone and told the reception of 200 guests what the band of conspirators had spent weeks trying to put together.
So, by cell phone, Weston talked to his family. His sister, moved to tears, got on first.
"I love you. I miss you. I can't believe I'm talking to you tonight on my wedding night," she said.
He talked to other siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles -- most from Charlotte's Steele Creek section.
His tearful mother, Lou Ann, hugged Quinn and Howerton: "Thank you for bringing my son to my daughter's wedding."
By 11:30 p.m., Weston had his orders to return to the battlefield. His sister cried all the way to her honeymoon suite at the Duke Mansion.
Focus From the Homefront
As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue, the Observer plans to run an occasional series of stories from the homefront. If you have story ideas, call reporter David Perlmutt at 704-358-5061, or email him at dperlmutt@charlotte-observer.com.
Ellie
Bride's brother, from Iraq with love
A world away with the Marine Corps but there for his sister's wedding
DAVID PERLMUTT
dperlmutt@charlotteobserver.com
Devin Klein and Heidi Mauch, native Charlotteans both, married on Saturday.
Uncle Will from Austin, Texas, flew in for the wedding at the Red Fez Shrine Club on Lake Wylie.
So did Aunt Kathy from Seattle.
Cousins Brian, Kevin and Joel drove up from Atlanta.
Everyone was there -- except for the bride's brother, Weston Mauch, a Marine lance corporal serving his second tour in Iraq.
But the Marines -- along with a band of homefront "conspirators" -- were determined to get him there some way.
The newlyweds, both 24, met a year ago at WBTV, where he's a director and she's a producer. They announced their engagement May 6.
"Heidi's family was so sad that Weston couldn't be here," said the groom's irrepressible mother and lead conspirator, Moira Quinn, an executive for Charlotte Center City Partners. "A lightbulb came on -- maybe he could be."
Easing separation pains
Hooking up troops on the battlefield with their families -- especially for significant events -- is one way volunteers across the country are helping ease separation pains.Three weeks earlier at an April event, Quinn had met Jessica Howerton, an agent manager at the telecommunications company Paetec. With Paetec's encouragement, Howerton volunteers setting up video conferences between Marines and relatives through an Internet network provided by the nonprofit Freedom Calls Foundation.
Howerton jumped at the chance to help Quinn bring Weston to the reception on a two-way video hook-up.
"I have a lot of relatives in the military, and I know it's hard on the family at home when a loved one is deployed," Howerton said. "Peoples' lives continue. Babies are born. Kids have first birthdays. It goes a long way if they can talk to and see each other."
The first issue: the Red Fez needed a powerful DSL (direct satellite link) to make the connection from Iraq. After Quinn contacted club officials, they boosted their DSL. Technical support at AT&T was so moved by the story, they placed a rush on the installation so the link could be tested, Quinn said.
Meanwhile, she had to clue in Weston to the surprise.
Without blowing it, she sneakily got his e-mail address from Heidi. Weeks passed and she heard nothing. So she e-mailed Sgt. Maj. James Thetford, a Marine recruiter she'd met recently.
He wanted specifics about Weston's unit. She finagled from another of Heidi's brothers that Weston is assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines. So Thetford sent Quinn's request to a sergeant major in the 2/6. Hearing nothing, she called a friend, Marine Maj. Ed Moen, at Camp Lejeune and begged his help.
That was on June 14. Two days later, her request was granted.
"Anyone who saw me on Tryon Street when I got the message on my BlackBerry must have thought I was crazy," Quinn said. "There it was: If the Marine Corps said it was going to happen, it was going to happen."
A toast from Fallujah
And so it did.
A convoy drove Weston to the Chapel of Hope in Fallujah. At 6 a.m. Sunday Iraq time, 10 p.m. Saturday Charlotte time, he sat in front of a camera rehearsing his toast and waiting to see family.
What he didn't know: Internet disaster had struck at the Red Fez. The DSL link died.
"As the reception was going on, we were all frantically running around trying to get the link restored -- and not give away the surprise," Quinn said.
Yet by 10:25 p.m., as Howerton and husband Jeremy worked to resuscitate the link, Quinn took a microphone and told the reception of 200 guests what the band of conspirators had spent weeks trying to put together.
So, by cell phone, Weston talked to his family. His sister, moved to tears, got on first.
"I love you. I miss you. I can't believe I'm talking to you tonight on my wedding night," she said.
He talked to other siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles -- most from Charlotte's Steele Creek section.
His tearful mother, Lou Ann, hugged Quinn and Howerton: "Thank you for bringing my son to my daughter's wedding."
By 11:30 p.m., Weston had his orders to return to the battlefield. His sister cried all the way to her honeymoon suite at the Duke Mansion.
Focus From the Homefront
As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue, the Observer plans to run an occasional series of stories from the homefront. If you have story ideas, call reporter David Perlmutt at 704-358-5061, or email him at dperlmutt@charlotte-observer.com.
Ellie