thedrifter
05-28-03, 07:29 AM
May 27, 2003
Groom’s in Iraq, bride isn’t, so mom stands in at wedding
By John K. Wiley
Associated Press
SPOKANE, Wash. — When Pfc. Mike Carroll was married May 6, he was in Iraq and his bride, Sabrina Clark, was in Montana.
Standing next to Sabrina and saying “I do” was his new mother-in-law, Lee O’Keefe. After exchanging vows, Sabrina kissed a photograph of Mike and O’Keefe kissed her daughter on the cheek.
The new Mrs. Carroll and her husband were engaged while he was home on leave from South Korea in April on his way to a new assignment in Germany. They decided not to wait until he returned from a year’s tour of duty and hoped to tie the knot in Europe before he shipped out to the war in Iraq, said O’Keefe.
But when Carroll was sent to the Persian Gulf before paperwork problems could be resolved, the couple turned to the mother-daughter proxy ceremony. It solved a logistics problem but raised some eyebrows.
“In my 10 years, this is the first,” Justice of the Peace Wanda James of Superior, Mont. “I don’t even have a ceremony for substituting names. It was a stretch for me. I’m winging it.”
Montana is believed to be the only state that allows marriages by proxy without the missing partner being connected to the ceremony by telephone. The state allows a bride or groom to authorize another person, through power of attorney, to act as his or her proxy during the ceremony. In this case, Carroll’s mother-in-law took his place beside Sabrina.
O’Keefe said she found out about proxy marriages while staying in a military hotel in Germany, where she and her daughter were trying to arrange a quick marriage to Carroll in late April before he shipped out to Camp New Jersey in Kuwait.
Unable to marry in Frankfurt, Germany, because of paperwork requirements, O’Keefe and her daughter were making arrangements to fly with Carroll to Denmark, which had a three day waiting period, when Carroll was placed on 12 hour recall.
That made it impossible for him to travel to Denmark and two days later, he was shipped to Kuwait.
But before Carroll left, O’Keefe was surfing the Internet and found a page on proxy marriage that told her “I could marry my daughter in place of him” in Montana.
Carroll earlier signed a power of attorney prepared by a military judge advocate general’s office, and O’Keefe and her daughter flew home to Seattle.
Driving straight through to Montana, the women met James, the justice of the peace, who cleared her docket that day and performed the 10-minute civil ceremony.
“We exchanged rings, I put his on my thumb, and said the vows,” O’Keefe said. “She kissed his picture at the end, and I kissed her on the cheek.”
It was the first marriage for Sabrina, 22, and Mike Carroll, 25. It was the first proxy marriage for O’Keefe.
“They were very serious,” James said. “They had gone to Germany with hopes of getting married there, then Denmark. Then they came to good old Montana. Obviously, they were willing to go to great lengths to get married.”
“When he gets off that plane, he’s finally going to see his bride,” O’Keefe said. “That will be after their first anniversary.”
Carroll didn’t learn for more than a week that he was a newlywed, getting the news from a sergeant. Later, he was able to call Sabrina.
“Are we married?” he asked.
“Yes, we’re married,” Sabrina replied.
“Did we have fun?” he asked.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.
Sempers,
Roger
Groom’s in Iraq, bride isn’t, so mom stands in at wedding
By John K. Wiley
Associated Press
SPOKANE, Wash. — When Pfc. Mike Carroll was married May 6, he was in Iraq and his bride, Sabrina Clark, was in Montana.
Standing next to Sabrina and saying “I do” was his new mother-in-law, Lee O’Keefe. After exchanging vows, Sabrina kissed a photograph of Mike and O’Keefe kissed her daughter on the cheek.
The new Mrs. Carroll and her husband were engaged while he was home on leave from South Korea in April on his way to a new assignment in Germany. They decided not to wait until he returned from a year’s tour of duty and hoped to tie the knot in Europe before he shipped out to the war in Iraq, said O’Keefe.
But when Carroll was sent to the Persian Gulf before paperwork problems could be resolved, the couple turned to the mother-daughter proxy ceremony. It solved a logistics problem but raised some eyebrows.
“In my 10 years, this is the first,” Justice of the Peace Wanda James of Superior, Mont. “I don’t even have a ceremony for substituting names. It was a stretch for me. I’m winging it.”
Montana is believed to be the only state that allows marriages by proxy without the missing partner being connected to the ceremony by telephone. The state allows a bride or groom to authorize another person, through power of attorney, to act as his or her proxy during the ceremony. In this case, Carroll’s mother-in-law took his place beside Sabrina.
O’Keefe said she found out about proxy marriages while staying in a military hotel in Germany, where she and her daughter were trying to arrange a quick marriage to Carroll in late April before he shipped out to Camp New Jersey in Kuwait.
Unable to marry in Frankfurt, Germany, because of paperwork requirements, O’Keefe and her daughter were making arrangements to fly with Carroll to Denmark, which had a three day waiting period, when Carroll was placed on 12 hour recall.
That made it impossible for him to travel to Denmark and two days later, he was shipped to Kuwait.
But before Carroll left, O’Keefe was surfing the Internet and found a page on proxy marriage that told her “I could marry my daughter in place of him” in Montana.
Carroll earlier signed a power of attorney prepared by a military judge advocate general’s office, and O’Keefe and her daughter flew home to Seattle.
Driving straight through to Montana, the women met James, the justice of the peace, who cleared her docket that day and performed the 10-minute civil ceremony.
“We exchanged rings, I put his on my thumb, and said the vows,” O’Keefe said. “She kissed his picture at the end, and I kissed her on the cheek.”
It was the first marriage for Sabrina, 22, and Mike Carroll, 25. It was the first proxy marriage for O’Keefe.
“They were very serious,” James said. “They had gone to Germany with hopes of getting married there, then Denmark. Then they came to good old Montana. Obviously, they were willing to go to great lengths to get married.”
“When he gets off that plane, he’s finally going to see his bride,” O’Keefe said. “That will be after their first anniversary.”
Carroll didn’t learn for more than a week that he was a newlywed, getting the news from a sergeant. Later, he was able to call Sabrina.
“Are we married?” he asked.
“Yes, we’re married,” Sabrina replied.
“Did we have fun?” he asked.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.
Sempers,
Roger