13 Years Of Garbage

George Rattiger and Debra Schaefer, local residents, were married the other day, about half an hour after they called the local District Judge to set a date. "We could do it today," the judge said. "When?" Debra asked. The judge replied, "Right now."

Her 12-year-old son was the photographer and her two grandchildren were ring bearer and flower girl. She told her mother later in the day.

They'd been engaged for 13 years but it just never happened. They lived together ever since and, as Debra said, “I just thought it would always be that way.” The newspaper article noted that several times they spoke about planning the wedding, but something always came up to stall their efforts.

Both had been married before and have children – yours, mine and ours. They met at work; both drive garbage trucks for a local sanitation company.

When the judge said they could come over right away, Debra said, “I look at George and we figured it was now or never.”

“It was like teenagers eloping,” Debra said. “I didn’t even tell my mom.”