Rush to the altar
Published 9:00 pm Friday, September 14, 2001
By Marcie Miller
Herald Writer
SNOHOMISH — Friday’s sunny wedding in a gazebo with a sweeping view of the pastoral Snohomish Valley seemed a million miles away from the horrors of Sept. 11, but it was those events that brought bride- and groom-to-be Christina Berwick and Robert Logsdon here to pledge their vows.
The young couple had been planning a simple justice of the peace union at the courthouse Sept. 27, but Tuesday’s tragic events on the East Coast changed that plan.
When Logsdon, an airman on the USS Lincoln, came home from Everett Naval Station Tuesday, Berwick told him they had to get married right away in case he was sent on active duty.
"I always told myself I wouldn’t date military," the new bride said earlier this week. "It’s so hard when they have to leave."
But the heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing, as French thinker Blaise Pascal said in the 17th century. The couple met in February at a local bar where Berwick works as a bartender. Logsdon, a Louisville, Ky., native, was just back from six months at sea on the Lincoln.
"He’s wanted to marry me since the day he met me," she said, admitting she is pretty taken with him as well.
They had their first date a week later on Mardi Gras, and have been together ever since.
When the marriage-minded Berwick called the Swans Trail Chapel, a private wedding chapel in Snohomish, Tuesday, co-owner Theresa McCullough quoted her a price of $250 for the ceremony.
Berwick booked the chapel with a ceremony by pastor John McCullough, but within five minutes Theresa McCullough called back with an offer to do the service for free to military personnel.
McCullough said she had four calls Tuesday from young people in situations similar to Berwick’s and decided it was the one thing she could do for them.
"We’re so sick about all this," MCullough said of Tuesday’s terrorist attack. "These people may potentially be going to fight."
Naval Station Everett public affairs officer Jeannie Kitchens could not comment on the status of personnel on the base, except to say that everyone is back at work.
The aircraft carrier Lincoln is currently in dry dock for maintenance, but Berwick said it is scheduled to be done by early October. The crew could be shipped out with 24 hours notice.
Berwick felt that if she and Logsdon were not married when he shipped out, she would have none of the privileges of the other Navy wives, such as being able to relocate with him, or even to know where he was.
She didn’t care so much about the more mundane benefits, such as medical and dental.
"I just care that we’ll be together, and I’ll be able to know if something bad happens."
Any military personnel interested in taking McCullough up on her offer of a free wedding may call the chapel at 425-334-9989. It is at 5427 64th St. SE in Snohomish.
You can call Herald Writer Marcie Miller at 425-339-3292
or send e-mail to
