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Lineman Weds Amid Florida Storm Chaos

December 2004 IBEW Journal

Staci Harrison, left, married Local 71 member Matt Gibeaut in front of a "Utility Work Ahead" sign in Florida.

When natures fury pounded on Florida last summer and fall, IBEW members crossed the country in droves to help restore power to darkened and devastated communities.

When the recovery interfered with the planned October nuptials of one IBEW member from Ohio, his brothers moved the wedding to Florida and the event in the parking lot of the Courtyard by Marriott near St. Petersburg took on a decidedly utility feel.

Local 71 member Matt Gibeaut wed his betrothed, Staci Harrison, under a pair of utility trucks with their buckets raised to form a heart. Staci walked down an aisle lined with orange plastic cones and carried a bridal bouquet held together with black electrical tape. In the background were massive road signs proclaiming "Utility Work."

"I think the guys spent more effort planning our wedding than their own," Staci Gibeaut said.

The occasion was planned in part by Gibeauts 20 crew members from New River Electric Co. and a Florida-based employee of Progress Energy who heard that Matts work in repairing the damage from Hurricane Jeanne could prevent him from being home in time for his wedding. The happy event was a more festive affair than the one the Gibeauts had been planning. They envisioned a low-key union before a justice of the peace in Ohio on October 4, the fourth anniversary of their first date.

But that was before Hurricane Jeanne blew into Florida in late September. Matt Gibeauts crew left for the coast on September 26. Several 16- to 18-hour days later, he realized he was unlikely to make it back for the wedding. "I called her and told her if she still wanted to get married on the 4th, to get a plane ticket and get down here," Matt Gibeaut said.

The romantic occasion in the midst of the heartbreak of three storms caught the attention of the local media. Newspapers and three television crews covered the utility-flavored wedding. "We were the Jennifer and Ben of Florida for a couple of days," Staci Gibeaut said, referring to the intense interest in the courtship of celebrities Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck. "It was all very exciting."