Manas Airman marries bride from 16,000 miles away

Courtesy photo Staff Sgt. Albert Jensen is all smiles as he pours sparkling white grape juice following his marriage Aug. 8 to long-time sweetheart, Charlene Kehaualani Meyer, who is in Hawaii. The couple married through a double-proxy ceremony, which spanned 16 time zones and 16,000 miles with the bride in Hawaii, chaplain in Montana, and groom in the Kyrgyz Republic.

The marvels of modern technology bridged the long-distance divide for an Airman at Manas Air Base, Kyrgyz Republic, and his sweetheart halfway around the world, bringing their relationship to a new level as husband and wife.

A morale center phone call and an Internet webcam allowed Staff Sgt. Albert Jensen to marry his long-time sweetheart, Charlene Kehaualani Meyer, through a proxy marriage ceremony Aug. 8. A proxy marriage was Sgt. Jensen's only option to marry while deployed because it allowed someone to stand in for him during the Hawaiian ceremony, 16,000 miles away from Manas.

After some research, the couple discovered that the state of Montana authorizes marriage by double-proxy as long as one member is either a Montana resident or a member of the U.S. armed forces. Most other states that allow proxy marriages require at least one member of the couple to be present at the wedding.

"I discovered that a double-proxy ceremony was the best way for us to have the event I had wished for and still allow it to be special while we're apart," said Sgt. Jensen.

An added bonus to doing the proxy wedding was that the couple was able to have their former base chaplain and friend conduct the ceremony from Montana for a bride in Hawaii and a groom in the Kyrgyz Republic.

So in the early morning hours of Aug. 8, Sgt. Jensen answered that life-altering question with an "I do."

"When Sergeant Jensen asked me to be his best woman, I couldn't help but to giggle," said Staff Sgt. Renee Pecpec, 376th Expeditionary Force Support Squadron technician. "I was kind of lost in translation, until he said that he was getting married by proxy. I told him of course I'd be his best woman!"

Albert and "Char," as he affectionately calls Charlene, have been dating for more than six years. The couple met earlier in 1970 at Hawaii's North Shore when Sgt. Jensen was in the Army. Getting married 16,000 miles apart is not easy, but Sgt. Jensen described it as if it did
not matter how far apart they were because it was "time to forge ahead with the relationship."

"On the evening of the marriage, we sipped sparkling grape juice and pretended it was sweet wine," said Pecpec. "When Sergeant
Jensen, Char and the chaplain were on the phone, he had the biggest smile I had ever seen. When I heard the words, 'I do,' I was really touched and happy for him."

"To some it may seem like a proxy marriage is a little foreign or strange, but to us it just made sense," said Sgt. Jensen. "We will have a royal Hawaiian wedding one day in the future."

In the end, the wedding spanned 16 time zones between Manas, Montana and Hawaii, and the longtime companions were united in an unusual, but monumental ceremony that truly showcased the core value of service before self.