Foreign job brings couple together
Oklahoma man meets future wife during Peace Corps assignment in Eastern Europe

 
By Brandy McDonnell | Published: November 6, 2006   

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Teacher Heath Melrose, 30, shows some of his Moldovan mementos in his classroom at Northern Hills Elementary in Edmond. By DAVID MCDANIEL, THE OKLAHOMAN

By the numbers
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is a federal agency devoted to promoting world peace and friendship. For more information, go online to www. peacecorps.gov.

• 1961: President Kennedy signed an executive order creating the agency on March 1, 1961.

• 182,000: Total volunteers and trainees to date.

• 138: Countries served.

• 7,810: Current volunteers and trainees.

• 28: Average age of Peace Corps volunteers.

• 96: Percent of volunteers that have at least an undergraduate degree.

Source: www.peacecorps.gov.

r mother also works for the Peace Corps.

Peace Corps volunteers aren't allowed to date employees, and the couple started as friends, Melrose said. In February, they started working together on an educational project for Moldovan schoolchildren. Romance bloomed, and they began discreetly dating.

"We definitely tried to be respectful of the rules, but I guess when you know, you know," he said. "She's amazing."

When his Peace Corps service ended in July, Melrose had about 10 days to openly court his fiancee, meet her parents and start wedding plans before he returned to Oklahoma.

Before his engagement, Melrose wasn't sure he would move back to his home state. He considered teaching abroad in other countries, even applying for a job through a Honduran mission.

Once the couple decided to get married, he started applying online for Oklahoma teaching jobs. His mother, Evelyn Myers of Hobart, helped him set up a June phone interview with Northern Hills Principal Nellie Sizemore.

For Sizemore, Melrose is the first hire she has made through an overseas phone interview. She said his Peace Corps service gives him an added dimension and speaks volumes about his character.

Myers said her son returned from Moldova with a more mature outlook, in addition to a fiancee.

"He seems to kind of have a peace about him that he's gone and done this, something he wanted to do ... before he started a family," she said.

She has talked to her future daughter-in-law via phone and e-mail, but they won't meet in person until the wedding. While Ciudnaia is arranging the Moldovan nuptials, Melrose and his family are planning a wedding blessing ceremony in Edmond for the couple.

"She's a very sweet girl, a very smart girl. I think he made a good choice," Myers said. "I think it's been a great experience for him."

Although his Peace Corps experience was often challenging, Melrose said it was worthwhile.

"I would definitely consider myself as changed for the better, even if I hadn't met her (Ciudnaia)," he said. "If I could do it all over, knowing what I know, I definitely would do it again."

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