PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Jamison, Bucks County couple who received a congratulatory letter from then-Vice President Joe Biden to celebrate their wedding discovered their special connection to the now President of the United States.
Years ago, Mauri Lawler and her wife Christine Tierney received - as many couples who request it do - a letter of congratulations from the president to commemorate their marriage. But Mauri decided to request a letter from the vice president as well.
"I love President Obama," she said, "but I've been a Biden supporter forever, so I said, 'I'm gonna send one to the Vice President as well.'"
As predicted, they received the letter of congratulations, which read in part, "There is nothing I cherish more than the love and comfort that my wife, Jill, and I share, and I am confident that you will experience the same fulfillment and happiness within your own lives as you travel this new road together."
Lawler noted that the letter seemed very personal, which touched her. "That's exactly what Chris and I felt when we read it, that this was not a form letter," she said.
Sometime after that, the two of them had the opportunity to meet Biden in a Bucks County crowd, on Lawler's birthday, which Tierney shouted to the then-vice president.
"He turns around and, we've all seen him do it, he looks at you and points," Lawler recounted, "and he said, 'It's your birthday?' And I said, 'Yeah, it is!' And he said, 'Where are you from?'
"And I said, 'Joe, I'm from Scranton.' And he said, 'Hey, I'm from Scranton!' I said, 'I know!'
"(He asked) 'What's your last name?' And he said, 'Are you related to Joe and Mike?' I said they're my great uncles."
Biden replied that he knew them, then said, "Wait a minute, wait a minute, we're cousins on my mom's side!"
18 months later, the couple had another opportunity to meet Biden at another event. This time, he took the initiative.
As Lawler tells it, "He looked at me and said, 'Hey, there's my cousin from Scranton!'
"So Joe Biden told me we were cousins, I believe him."