It is the stuff of a Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan boxoffice hit--and it happens every day. However, when two children’s caregivers meet in the midst of often stressful jobs that are much more than typical eight-hour shifts, it makes for unique courtships. In the end though, the couples often find their marriages start out strong because of a common devotion: the children of Mooseheart.

When Sherry and Ric Kienzle arrived separately at the Mooseheart campus in the early 1990s, neither one had any idea they would meet the love of their lives at the very place they had both grown devoted to. Both Sherry and Ric were a year out of college and working on obtaining their master’s degrees.

“I was looking forward to being single. It really happened as a surprise to the both of us,” Sherry said.

The two met while running errands and immediately hit it off.

“We would check our mail together or go out for coffee. It was all very simple,” Sherry said. “In fact, most of our dates were running errands in the day, long before we ever had a real date outside of campus.”

The couple considered Mooseheart such a part of their lives that Ric decided to propose during a Mooseheart community picnic--with the entire student body watching!

Sherry was called down by then-Superintendent Carmen Freda and had no idea what was happening until Ric got down on his knees and proposed in front of a cheering crowd of staff and children.

“We are a tightknit community with a great staff, so I wanted to include our Mooseheart family in the moment I asked Sherry,” Ric said. The two were married Dec. 2, 1995, one year to the day after their first date!

The two then had to adjust to married life while living in the Pennsylvania Home--with 12 teenage boys!

“We had an instant family right away,” Ric said.

Ric was later promoted to a coordinator position with Mooseheart administration and Sherry now works outside campus. The two still live in a cottage on the campus. They also have a family of their very own now: Four-year-old daughter Sydney and two-year old son Grey.

“The Mooseheart community is still a big part of our lives,” Sherry said.

Ontario Home Family Teachers Jack and Paula Goodrich both started working at Mooseheart within a few months of each other in 1996. Paula worked in Baby Village and Jack worked with high-schoolers. Co-workers saw a potential match in the two and started to encourage Jack to pursue Paula. Three months later, he finally asked Paula out--around Valentine’s Day.

“At the time I was one of three single males on the campus,” Jack said grinning. “There weren’t many to choose from.”

The couple did what they referred to as “work dating” and didn’t get away from campus too much--but they said it was not an issue because their jobs caring for the children intertwined with their everyday lives.

Six months later the two were engaged, and then married on Aug. 8, 1998, at the House of God by Fr. Jack Heraty--near the end of his tenure as Mooseheart Catholic Chaplain.

After Jack and Paula married they moved into the Susquehanna Home in Baby Village, which proved great training for the young couple.

“This was a great opportunity to master parenting skills before having our own children. It has worked out great,” Jack said. “Mooseheart taught us to be parents.”

The Goodriches now are the proud parents of two girls, Izabelle, 6, and Audrey, 4; they live in the Ontario Home--and consider themselves blessed.

“We feel like we have an extended family of almost 300 children from across the country, all with the support of the wonderful Moose folks from Ontario,” Paula said.

The Goodriches are quite content with their unique life. They said the girls have a “second mother” with the home’s third Family Teacher, Mickey Hogan, and their girls and the boys all get along.

Jack is also aware that many of the boys have often had no really positive male role models in their lives, so he is always aware that his actions are being closely eyed.

“I just do my best and hope they remember the positive behavior in 10 years,” he said.

Jack and Paula said it is challenging work raising their own family and elementary-age boys, but is rewarding nonetheless.

“There is nothing better than seeing the kids grow toward becoming responsible adults,” Jack said. “They are growing up in a loving environment.”

The two hit it off immediately--and since Laura didn’t have a permit to drive yet, “David became my chauffeur,” she said.

The couple spent their first dates together on outings with the children at local pools or state parks. The two rarely held hands in public and kept their comments and relationship outwardly platonic, in deference to the children.

“We tried to be good role models of how to date and be friends. We tried to prove that it can involve going to a movie or playing tennis outside--and doesn’t all have to be physical,” Laura said.

Falling in love with David was a surprise to Laura. “I swore I wasn’t going to get married right away,” she said. About the same time the two started dating, Laura read a fortune cookie in her home: “You or someone close to you will be married within a year.” Because the home was filled with teenage girls, there was much giggling. But the cookie proved right; the two were engaged within five months and married on June 19, 2004.

Many of the tightknit Mooseheart community saw the pair as a good match and placed their stamp of approval on the relationship.

“(Child-care coordinator) Hazel Holmes ‘had us married’ before we even met!” Laura said with a grin. “She takes all the credit for us being married!”

The teenage boys in the home keep the two active and since they share a common interest in sports, the two not only encourage the boys to become involved in sports but partake in many activities with them outside when the weather permits.

“They keep us on our toes, but we love it that way,” David said.

Bryan and Rachel Miller

Bryan and Rachel Milller decided to hold their wedding at
Mooseheart Lake, surrounded by family and friends.

When Rachel first met her future husband Bryan, he was working as a Family Teacher at Arizona-New Mexico Home, with a houseful of boys. Rachel was working in Tennessee Home with all girls. Bryan was taking the boys out to the playground at the same time Rachel had her girls outside.

The two caught each other’s eye; Bryan offered a friendly hello. Rachel though, wasted no time in inquiring about Bryan. She asked a co-worker whether or not Bryan was single. After hearing a positive response, Rachel called him and asked him if he had two eggs to borrow so she could bake cookies, even though it was 95 degrees out! When he said yes she went over to his home, got the eggs and talked for a little bit. Bryan had to take the boys on an outing, but returned to a plate of cookies at his home.

Rachel and Bryan later talked on the phone until midnight and their relationship progressed from that point. Rachel was pleased to see Bryan got along with her children from a previous marriage and the relationship continued to progress.

When Bryan decided he was going to propose, he was amused to receive plenty of well-intentioned advice from the boys in his home.

“They had plenty of suggestions as to how I should propose,” he said laughing.“Many of them wanted to be ushers or even best man at our wedding.”

Indeed, Bryan and Rachel did receive help from many of the Mooseheart children when they married on Sept. 24, 2005 at Mooseheart Lake in front of both their own family as well as the Mooseheart community.

“This was the last thing I thought would happen when I started here,” Rachel said. “I never thought of it--and here we are.”

The couple now reside in Tennessee Home. Bryan also is employed in the Recreation Department. He said they have a healthy relationship and sometimes even air their differences quietly and maturely, in front of the children.

“It’s good for kids to see disagreements now and then,” Bryan said, “to see a couple work through them in a healthy relationship.”

Pete was working as a Family Teacher in Arizona/New Mexico home and Alice worked in New England Home, when the

two found themselves crossing paths quite a bit.
The two would walk the kids at the same time and found themselves growing closer. They started to go to lunch more often and kept their relationship private--which wasn’t easy in the tightknit Mooseheart family atmosphere.

Alice had been with many of the same girls for several years and many were apprehensive when they heard about the relationship, she said. First off, they were afraid she might leave the campus, as some Family Teachers had done after getting married. When Alice reassured them this wasn’t going to happen, they were concerned about a man living in their house.

“Many of the girls never lived with a man before ever,” Alice said. Pete and Alice then decided that he should move into their home (initially in a separate room) for that very reason.

“We wanted the girls to have a role model and see a gentle, appropriate man in their home,” Alice said.

Pete added that he is careful to always live up to being a role model and tries to instill traditional Judeo-Christian values at their home.

The two were married on March 17, 2001 at the House of God, with Alice’s hometown pastor and Mooseheart Protestant Chaplain Rev. Tom Riemenschneider presiding. Many of the girls and boys from Pete and Alice’s home were even included in the wedding ceremony, Alice said.

Along with Family Teacher Jo Wolz, the Daneels are happy to live at Mooseheart in New Jersey Home. They are blessed with two-year old son Josiah, and consider the girls their “Mooseheart family.”

“We’re glad to give the girls consistency and a good set of morals,” Alice said.

“When I found this out I said I’m gonna marry him to my co-worker,” she said. Lisa’s mother always joked that would marry someone on Oct. 28. It was her mother’s birthday; several other family members shared the date as a birthday.

Most of the couple’s courtship took place around children on the campus, which made Lisa fall deeper in love with Philip.

“We took them out places, and it didn’t seem weird at the time. It made me see him interact with the children more, which I really liked a lot,” Lisa said. “I loved seeing him play with the kids and how good he was with them.”

It was a fun experience dating amidst a world of children, Lisa said. Many of the girls liked to tease her about Philip. The boys were also excited and one of them made a snowman for the amused couple as a wedding gift!

Although it wasn’t Oct. 28, nine months later on Dec. 6, 2002 the two got married in Hawaii. They moved into New England Home and have been enjoying their life/careers at Mooseheart.

“We never argue and have a lot of fun with the kids. It’s good for them to see a couple who bounces ideas off each other and comes to conclusions about issues together,” Lisa said.

The home also had a new addition as of Dec. 30, 2005 when their son Cadin was born.

“All the boys are excited about baby and are helping out a lot,” Philip said. We’re very happy”.