We knew the pedway had a certain romance to it, but we didn’t realize it was home to the city’s Marriage Court. For 22 years, couples have been saying “I do” deep in the bowels of the pedway under the County Building.
Today it was the turn of Melissa Morgan and Nathaniel Williams of Hazelcrest. The ceremony had some urgency because Melissa is a soldier, and could be sent to Iraq at a moment’s notice, they told us.
Joan Helie has been the front desk clerk at Marriage Court for 22 years, and has seen it all. Mostly, her job’s a happy one. But, unfortunately, not always, she says.
“One man told his bride he was going to the washroom and he never came back,” Helie says. “The woman was distraught. She did wait for him until the end of the day.”
But Helie says that the man didn’t return.
“You just sympathize, and hope that your shoulder is big enough to cry on.”