FEATURE
6 • The Clackamas Print • May 7, 2003
State lines are no border for love
Student's wedding moves up as Marine fiancé deploys to Japan
Cyndee Mady
The Clackamas Priat
DOVE ANDES Contributed
Dove Andes and Bill Mitchell enjoy a Hawaii beach
during her visit to the town where he is stationed.
Not unlike many other CCC stu
dents, Dove Andes strives to main
tain a balance of school, work and
home life.
What distinguishes this 28 year-
old education major from her fellow
students is her impending wedding
nuptials.
People get married all the time,
so what makes Andes so different?
The exceptionalism stems from the
fact that Andes and her 26-year-old
fiancé, Bill Mitchell, have never
lived in the same state.
They met last August at a club in
the village of Carlsbad while Andes
was vacationing in California.
Mitchell is a Marine, and at the time
he was stationed at Camp Pendleton
in Oceanside, Calif.
Andes and Mitchell spent four
days of her five-day visit to
California embedded in a whirlwind
romance. But this was no fly-by-
night affair. They maintained sub
sequent contact everyday via
telecommunications and air travel.
In fact, in the eight short months
this duo has been a couple, Mitchel!
has flown to Oregon three times,
sequestered Andes to his home
town of Egan, Minn, so they could
spend New Year’s Eve together and
Student proves that life's hurdles
are never too high to overcome
Kimberly Steele
anywhere from two to eight times
day and on weekends, one convei
sation can last more than fiv
hours.”
Just three months after they me
Mitchell knew he wanted to spen
the rest of his life with Andes. H
also knew their relationship woul
be a challenge.
“The drawbacks are that yoi
don’t get to spend that quality per
sonal time together, but the advan
tages are that you are forced t<
work on your relationship and yoi
never take things for granted,” saifl
Mitchell.
I
Andes moved to Oregon fronB
her hometown of St. Louis, Mo. twB
years ago and is currently certified
by the state to teach kindergarten al
The Learning Tree, a private facilfl
ty in Tualatin. She is workinfl
towards her teaching certificati
with the ambition of becoming ai
elementary school teacher in thi
public school system. Andes main
tains a high GPA and is a membe
of the honor society.
“This is my second year a
Clackamas,” said Andes. “I’m in i
grant program this year for educa
tion technology.”_
Andes will continue to live witl
her parents and attend CCC unti I
her husband returns, at which timi I
they will make Hawaii their home. I
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Guest Writer
Eighteen years ago Jennifer
Voelker attended junior high
school. She played volleyball and
went out with her friends. Then two
freak accidents changed her life
dramatically.
The first mishap occurred while
Voelker was at school. Several of
her classmates were arguing and
the scuffle led to a math book being
hurled across the room. The book
hit Voelker in the side of the head.
A long recovery time followed, but
she was able to regain her health.
Eventually, she found herself on
her school volleyball team, which
led to her second misfortune. On
the court one day, one of the girls
served a ball that hit Voelker in the
back of the head. The only thing
she can remember before waking
up in the hospital is hearing a loud
bang.
The blows to the head that
Voelker sustained from the two
accidents caused injuries to her
inner ear, leading doctors to
remove her stapes, a bone in the ear
that helps transmit sound. These
and other injuries that are less easi
ly defined resulted in a vestibular
disorder that turned her world
upside down.
When Voelker’s inner ear was
injured it caused her to lose many
things that most of us take for
granted. On a good day Voelker
constantly feels like she is falling,
like the world around her is spin
ning, but on such a day she is able
to do school work and concentrate
for varying lengths of time on the
day-to-day activities that most peo
ple do not give a second thought to.
On a bad day it is excruciating and
nearly impossible for her to get out
of bed at all. Movement, sound,
arranged for Andes to visit him in
Hawaii, which recently became his
home base.
Andes and Mitchell originally
set their wedding date for July 12;
however, Mitchell just received
orders of deployment to Japan
beginning June 1.
“The way the deployment rota
tion works, I could be over there a
year, but they want you to believe
it’s only going to be six or seven
months,” said Mitchell.
Needless to say, the wedding has
been moved to May 24. Andes will
fly to Hawaii prior to the wedding
and accompany her fiancé back to
Oregon for the ceremony. After
spending a few days with her fami
ly, whom she now resides with in
Wilsonville, they will return to
Hawaii for their honeymoon where
they can steal a few romantic
moments before Mitchell’s ship sets
sail and the two sweethearts are
separated yet again.
Having known each other only a
short while, it may seem as though
they are rushing things, but the cou
ple couldn’t disagree more.
“We’re old enough to know what
we want. Our love is strong,
because it’s not just based on the
physicality of the relationship,”
said Andes. “We’re in constant
communication, sometimes talking
For details ph
sue Dobson, Ad
tland
phone: 503-71 5-485»
e-mail: sdobson^eou.edu
hy are you holding youri
h ead down ? You co n hold
me, fid me, '
i
"
.'V ...
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Jennifer Voelker (center), Clackamas student, suffers
from an inner ear injury that causes movement, sound,
light, patterns and smells to make her dizzy.
light, patterns and even smells
make her dizzy and nauseated.
Nearly all of the stimuli that the
rest of the world takes in Without
conscious acknowledgement makes
Voelker ill.
Despite all these things, Voelker
is living proof that nothing can stop
a dedicated person from achieving
ones goals. She graduated from
high school with a 4.0 grade point
average and is currently taking
classes at Clackamas Community
College, impressing her teachers at
every tum.
Voelker, who has had 13 surger
ies to date, moved here from
Colorado soon after her accidents
happened. She is currently receiv
ing care from Dr. F. Owen Black
and is making plans for future oper
ations to restore hearing to her left
ear. NASA is doing new research
that gives her, and others with sim
ilar problems, hope for future
recovery.
Voelker is quick to give credit
where she believes it is due.
“My family has stuck by me,
and all the people whose names no
one will ever know,” said Voelker.
“It’s not like, ‘Well, we’ll help
Jennifer for a month or two and
then she’ll get on her feet.’ It’s
faithful friendship and assistance to
somebody, and there’s lots of peo
ple like that in my life and I think
that’s kind of a neater story than
just about me.”
The message Voelker, spreads •
with her life, her personality and
her words is a simple one: “I don’t
have a choice in my situation but
all those other people, they certain
ly have a choice. They don’t have
to help me, and they do.”
ut the best thing to do is
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