Giffords marries Shuttle commander at Agua Linda Farms

AMADO — On a moonless Saturday night in the Santa Cruz Valley, an Arizona congresswoman and a space flying astronaut exchanged wedding vows at Agua Linda Farm with 300 family and friends present.

The ceremonies brought U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and Navy Commander Mark Kelly to meet beneath a chuppah, a small canopy held aloft by four corner poles in a field beneath scattered mesquite and acacia trees.

The chuppah represents the house the two will soon share.

Some 300 to 350 friends, family members and colleagues were invited. They included some of the congresswoman’s fast friends and school chums from Tucson, plus others from her career that has taken her to Washington and overseas.

Groom Mark Kelly was joined by family, including daughters Claudia, 12, and Claire, 10, and an identical twin brother, Scott, who is also an astronaut and Navy commander. Other astronauts and military friends were also invited. Scott Kelly was the best man.

Patricia Kelly, their mother, was also in the ceremony.

Giffords’ sister, Melissa Giffords, was the matron of honor. Kelly’s daughters were also in the wedding.

Sunset was at 5:27, with full darkness about 6 p.m.. The vows occurred at 6:30 p.m. Temperatures were in the low 60s.

Giffords became the first Arizona congresswoman to be married while in office.

A Giffords Tucson friend, Rabbi Stefani Aaron, performed the Jewish ceremony.

“It’s a religious ceremony with a bit of humor,” said a smiling Giffords with a twinkle in her eye before the ceremony.

Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration who has been a professor at Harvard and the University of California, spoke during the ceremonies. He’s known for a wit that can bring laughter during even the most serious times. He campaigned for her in Arizona.

Shortly before the ceremonies, the wedding party gathered in the house at Agua Linda to sign the Ketubah, a sacred Jewish contract. Her mother did the art work for it.

Bride groom Kelly was in military dress uniform and Giffords borrowed a Vera Wang wedding gown from a friend.

The couple said it wanted the event to be a “green one,” an ecological sensitive event.

Favors to guests were small bottles of honey made by Santa Cruz Valley bees.

A week before the wedding, the couple was trying to decide on a wedding trip. “Maybe the Orient Express,” said Kelly, but he changed that to say he’d like a train trip where they could get off and on, spending a few days here or there.

They met on a conference and trip to China four years ago, and then two years later, they met again when the conference was repeated in Arizona.

They saw each other in the course of business, and were attracted to each other.

“Our first date was to the Florence State Prison,” she jokes.

Kelly lives at Houston, NASA headquarters. Giffords lives in Washington and Tucson.

During their courtship they managed to see each other about every other week.

Giffords was elected to Congress, Nov. 7, 2006. She had served in he Arizona Senate, but resigned to seek the Congressional seat.

She serves on the House Democratic Leadership Council and is a Blue Dog Democrat, a fiscally conservative Democrat in the House.

She’s on the House Armed Services Committee, the House Science and Technology Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee

She served the family business as president and chief executive officer of El Campo Tire Inc. founded by her grandfather. She has a masters degree from Cornell University and has a masters degree in regional planning from Scripps College. She studied a year in Mexico on a William Fulbright Scholarship. She serves many local organizations.

Kelly has commanded two shuttle missions and will lead another in April. He was raised in West Orange, N.J., and received a B.S. degree in marine engineering and nautical science from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, graduating with highest honors in 1986.

He later earned an M.S. degree in aeronautical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School.

He became a Navy pilot, with more than 4,500 hours in more than 50 different aircraft. He had more than 375 carrier landings and flew 39 combat missions in Operation Desert Storm.

His parents Richard and Patricia Kelly live in Flagler Beach, Fla.

He’s a bit of an adventurer. On a boat trip to arctic waters, he and his oldest daughter went for a swim. Air temperature 14 degrees Fahrenheit. They were 400 miles from the North Pole.

“Pretty chilly,” he recalled.

jlamb@gvnews.com | 547-9749