“Kunkel sisters get ready to tie the knot in triple wedding at St. Norbert College in De Pere - Green Bay Press-Gazette” plus 1 more

Kunkel sisters get ready to tie the knot in triple wedding at St. Norbert College in De Pere - Green Bay Press-Gazette

Posted: 03 Oct 2010 11:08 AM PDT

From the moment they're old enough to clutch a bouquet or hum Wagner's bridal chorus, most girls dream about their wedding day.

Most fathers? They usually aren't brought into the conversation until it's time to fork over the credit card.

But Thomas Kunkel's subconscious works on a mysterious level, which explains why he had a Nostradamus-like premonition three years ago while working at the University of Maryland in College Park.

"It was a very vivid dream taking place at the chapel at the university. I got dropped into the middle of a big, huge wedding. And I started to realize it was a multiple wedding," said Kunkel, president of St. Norbert College in De Pere.

"Little did I know until I started marching down the aisle that it was my daughter Katie, my daughter Claire, my daughter Helen and my daughter Grace."

Well, three out of four ain't bad.

Just as Thomas' dream eerily forecasted, sisters Katie, Claire and Helen Kunkel will walk down the aisle Saturday at Old St. Joseph Church at St. Norbert College for a rare triple-wedding spectacle.

Youngest sibling Grace, 21, will be present as maid of honor for all three. Mom Debra will have the requisite tissues handy — times three. But it's nothing compared to the déjà vu Thomas is set to experience when the ceremony starts.

"It'll basically be three circles for him," Helen said, laughing at the thought of her dad escorting all three daughters down the aisle in succession. "He'll walk Katie down first, then he's set to go out a separate set of doors. Then he'll just loop back around and grab the next one."

Three daughters, one big day

What started as a joke between three sisters turned into a common sense epiphany that seemed far more intriguing than improbable. After all, the Kunkel sisters had been known to share everything from clothes to jewelry to Barbie dolls growing up, so why not a wedding?

"Oh my gosh, we share everything," said Claire, a high school teacher in Maryland. "Clothes. Friends. Katie and I had the same first confirmations. We were always celebrating our graduations or birthdays at the same time. We all went to the University of Maryland. Sharing everything is pretty normal for us."

Yet none of it could have been possible without all three getting engaged in a span of 16 days.

Thomas had an indication something special was brewing while preparing for Katie's graduation from George Mason University School of Law in May 2009. Before leaving, he received a call from Nick Stewart, Katie's boyfriend, about needing to discuss something important — not-so-subtle code for a life-altering decision of the on-bended-knee variety. Shortly after, Michael Lindsey, Helen's boyfriend, sent Thomas an e-mail indicating the same cryptic sentiment.

"And I turned to (Deb) and said, 'You better buckle your seatbelt,'" Thomas said.

The two conversations went as expected — old-fashioned requests for a father's blessing from two future son-in-laws. Then came a random phone call from Claire's boyfriend, Sam Kaiser, a few days later.

"We really didn't know about that third one," Thomas said. "But it was Sam, and he spoke about being in love with Claire and wanting to spend his life with her and how he would like to have my blessing to propose.

"I just started laughing. I mean, I love Sam and, of course, I was delighted. But I really didn't expect that. It was this bang, bang, bang of engagements. Talk about overwhelming."

"It really was this kind of perfect storm," Helen added. "My fiancé and I had been going out four years at the time. Claire and her fiancé were like two, two and a half years. Katie and her fiancé were about a year and a half, but they'd known each other all throughout college.

"Really, it was the right moment for everyone. It was the right time in all of our lives."

If the idea of a triple wedding was a surprisingly easy sell to the sisters, their fiancés and their immediate families, it had a confounding effect on the majority of those in their social circle.

"Nobody understood. They were like, 'What?' and I think brushed it off as being ridiculous. When we actually sent out invites and they saw that it was real, I still think they were like, 'Now … how does this work?'" Helen said.

"It's one of those things where first glance, yeah, it looks like a normal wedding invitation. Then you realize, wait, there's six names …"

"They probably thought it was for a cult wedding," Thomas joked.

Details, details, details

A "one-family stimulus package for Northeastern Wisconsin," as Thomas lovingly calls it, the Kunkel wedding is economical in more ways than one.

By uniting all three at a neutral site like St. Norbert, it provides a substantial savings for would-be travelers who likely wouldn't have been able to attend all three separately.

"Our family loves it," Thomas said. "They thought it was funny, but I also think they're very, very appreciative."

As for the guest list, it isn't as oversized as amateur wedding planners might think. About 300 are expected to be in attendance, well below the church's maximum capacity of around 450.

Each sister will have her own set of bridesmaids and groomsmen, her own priest, her own vows and her own mini-processional (oldest to youngest) with assorted trumpet music. All three bought their ivory dresses — in an unplanned moment — from Elaine's Wedding Center in Ashwaubenon. The bridesmaids dresses are the same navy blue; the flowers orange and yellow. There'll be three wedding cakes, three groom's cakes, three first dances, or as you'd expect, "pretty much three of everything," Helen said.

Individual flourishes are also intact. During the father-daughter dance, Thomas will waltz with each of his girls before her respective husband steps in. Because Michael is in the Navy, his groomsmen will be in uniform and conduct a traditional sword arch for his exit with Helen.

"Our main thing is that we want each couple to feel like it's still their day and it's not just a big circus," Helen said. "It took me a few days to not be overwhelmed by that idea, too. At first it was like, 'Oh my God, there are so many people to think about. I don't know if I can do this.' But once I calmed down and realized it was possible, I got really excited."

First, they had to get past an only-in-Green Bay hurdle that rears its head every autumn: Would a Packers home game create a dearth of hotel space? With a need to secure some 200 rooms for out-of-town guests, Deb learned the hard way that getting hotels to commit to a non-Packers rate is impossible when the schedule has yet to be released. Luckily, the Packers will be on the road — coincidentally, against the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field in Landover, Md. — so everyone gets a bed.

Helen was also able to spin a spell of temporary displacement into a wedding planning advantage. Because her fiancé didn't know where he'd be stationed, she moved in with her parents upon graduating from the University of Maryland in spring. A meticulous planner by nature, Helen was able to devote her summer to the necessary logistical work around town with her mom.

"I learned to trust Helen last year when she helped me plan my school's prom," Claire said of ceding control to her younger sister. "I was a class sponsor, so it was my turn to plan prom, and it was so overwhelming. But not to Helen. She did such a wonderful job getting all the decorations together, all the last-minute stuff.

"That was kind of the moment when I knew I could trust her with anything. So it just kind of became, 'You know, Helen. Just do whatever you want with our wedding,''' she said, laughing.

Almost to the finish line

As if the coming week wasn't poised to be crazy enough, in a 24-hour reprieve from the mad dash to the finish line, all three couples are flying to New York City for a Thursday morning appearance on CBS' "The Early Show."

The family had previously fielded calls from cable's TLC and other documentary/reality producers as their story gained national attention, but Helen said they wanted to maintain a respectable level of privacy.

"We don't see it as something that's interesting to other people. It's our wedding. So (the attention is) weird to us, but at the same time, it can also be pretty exciting," she said.

Instead, the New York trip is a cherry on top of not only what has managed to be a less stressful journey than expected, but also one that couldn't have shaped up any other way than with three best friends who happen to be sisters saying "I do" on the same day.

"The main thing to remember in all of this is that, yes, the spectacle will be amazing, and it's going to be a wonderful day. But it's about three couples getting married," Thomas said. "Three couples who are well-suited for each other, love each other and make each other very happy. I couldn't be more delighted that my daughters are all marrying wonderful men."

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Deputies: Hospice worker stole widow's jewelry - msnbc.com

Posted: 23 Sep 2010 10:16 AM PDT

TAMPA — For veteran Hillsborough County sheriff's Detective Mike Massimei, recovering stolen property is often just part of the job.

But when the 47-year-old lawman was able to return several pieces of stolen jewelry to a terminally ill 92-year-old widow, it literally brought tears to his eyes.

"I was blubbering," Massimei said.

Massimei started investigating the case on Monday. He knew there were only so many people who could have had access to the bedside dresser where the jewelry had been stored.

He narrowed his list of suspects to 27-year-old Jason Russell, an employee of Lifepath Hospice.

Investigators say on Saturday, Russell delivered hospice equipment to the elderly victim's southeastern Hillsborough County home. He asked for a drink of water, and in the seconds it took the victim's daughter-in-law to get it for him he helped himself to nearly two dozen pieces of jewelry, detectives said.

Massimei went to Russell's Brandon home at 1906 Pepperwood Place and confronted him.

"He later provided to me approximately seven to eight pieces of jewelry that he said he took from the victim," Massimei said.

Eventually Massimei said he recovered all of the stolen jewelry which included the victim's wedding ring, a mother's ring and several necklaces that were given to the victim by her husband before he died.

"Her connection to those memories was important to me," Massimei said. He took the recovered items to the victim's son in what turned out to be an emotional encounter for both men.

"I gave the son, who was also in tears and ready to hug me, I said 'take this to your mother. Let her see it,'" Massimei said.

Russell was charged Wednesday with grand theft. He was released later that day on $2,000 bail, records show.

Massimei said Russell is addicted to painkillers because of a back injury he suffered while serving in the Air Force. Russell stole the jewelry to help support his habit, according to investigators. Massimei also said Russell has never been in trouble before and seemed genuinely sorry for committing the crime.

"He expresses remorse and wanted to express to the victim in this case, which I had, how sorry he was," Massimei said. "He knew he did wrong, and he wants to work through it. He's not trying to get by it. He's trying to work through it."

Wedding Jewelry

Sunday, October 3, 2010