10/12/2026
A Mary and Joseph Story
In the year of our Lord 2013, I was participating in the Living Nativity as I had been doing for years. My name is Joe Maurer and I was aptly playing the part of Joseph. I’d been doing so for a few years, but this year turned out to be different. You could say there was something about Mary. For my role partner, I had been paired with Kate Heinlein. If you ask her, my Aunt Rhea Bartels will take credit for this tandem.
In between the visiting “families” that have come to see the beloved Living Nativity, I took the opportunity to pass the time by regaling Kate with a litany of jokes I’d memorized in my short lifetime. As I tell the story, she simply couldn’t resist my charm after that (her story varies slightly). Nonetheless, we began dating the following Friday.
A year later, we returned to the scene of the Christ… er… place where it all began. We volunteered for Mary and Joseph. Things were going as they normally do; swapping out with other pairings of “Mary and Joseph” so as to be able to grab a bite to eat and warm ourselves at “the Inn”.
As I followed Kate into the building. The most peculiar sight awaited inside. A host of our family and friends were all standing there looking back at us. Kate suspiciously turned back towards me. I was on bended knee with ring box open. And so it was, that Joseph proposed to Mary… er… Kate.
And oh yeah, she said “Yes”.
