MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Turning what some might consider a fairy tale romance into a marriage on stable ground has proved an interesting tale for two families -- and their friends.
The bride, the former Sarah Rice, is a talented writer, yet even she might have had a challenge coming up with a plot with so many connections …
Sarah was a working journalist (in Davenport, Iowa) when she decided to accept a new job in Minneapolis, Minn.
She didn't know anyone there, so her mother, Sue Rice (who lives in Manhattan, Kan.), suggested that she look up Theresa Boggs, a young woman who also had moved to Minneapolis for a new job.
Now, before we begin to get lost in the connections, Theresa is the daughter of Don and Rosemary Boggs, who are friends of Sarah's parents, Charles ("Chuck") and Sue Rice. Don also is Associate Dean of the College of Agriculture at Kansas State University, where her father, Chuck Rice, is a University Distinguished Professor of Soil Microbiology.
The two young women had much in common, and became friends.
Still, Sarah admits to being a little apprehensive when Theresa invited her to a birthday party for someone she didn't know.
Theresa vouched for the two young men, however, and, before the party concluded, Shea McGinnity (one of the young men) suggested a date for getting better acquainted the next day.
McGinnity is a sales supervisor in Minneapolis, but -- surprise -- his father also is a soil scientist.
After realizing that their fathers might know each other, McGinnity called his father to check, and learned that although he knew of Chuck Rice, he did not know him personally -- yet.
There was a connection, though. Patrick McGinnity had earned a Ph.D. in soil science at the University of Minnesota under academic advisor George Ham, who later accepted an assignment as the Head of Department of Agronomy in the College of Agriculture at K-State and hired Chuck Rice, who was then a young soil scientist and Sarah's father.
The Hams -- George and Alice -- also lived in the same neighborhood as the Rices during Sarah's growing up years.
So, what happens when the son of one soil scientist marries the daughter of another soil scientist?
While some just-marrying couples choose to light a unity candle, Shea and Sarah chose to blend the state soils from their childhood homes (for Sarah, from Manhattan, Kan., and for Shea, from Shoreview, Minn,) and meaningful sites, such as the Konza Prairie (for Sarah). [For soil scientists, that involves blending the state soil of Kansas (Harney silt loam) and the state soil of Minnesota (Lester loam).]
Sue Rice (Sarah's mother) is credited with suggesting the idea after hearing of a Western Kansas farm couple who had blended the soils from their family farms when they married.
Sarah's father picked up on the idea, as, according to Sarah: "Fathers don't always have much to do in getting ready for a wedding."
Not so, though, with this wedding.
According to Sue Rice, Chuck gathered the soil with the help of some colleagues and sieved it over and over again to refine it for the wedding ceremony, at which the couple blended the soils.
The earthly blend is now on display in a glass carafe in their apartment home. And, an enthusiastic father of the bride also has some in reserve for planting a tree when the newlyweds purchase their first home.
"In blending the soils, we've tied the past to the present and the future," Sarah Rice McGinnity said.
And, while their marriage is starting off on solid ground, Shea McGinnity is vowing to keep it that way. As a graduate of the University of St. Thomas in the Twin Cities, McGinnity is keeping a copy of "How to Love Your Wife," which was written by Dr. John Buri (one of his former professors), handy.
Sarah Rice McGinnity is the daughter of Charles ("Chuck") and Sue Rice; Shea McGinnity is the son of Patrick and Laurel McGinnity.
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