Emily Gerlach + Ryan Trees • July 27, 2019
Operation Wedding Gown
The wedding gown. It’s the centerpiece of a wedding. Emily Gerlach’s gown had a story all its own thanks to the nonprofit organization Brides Across America. BY SUE LONG PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERICA MARTIN
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L A N C A S T E R CO U N T Y | J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
In late 2016,
Ryan Trees, a logistics operations planner with the U.S. Army, was deployed to Iraq. He began blogging about his experiences, sharing the posts with family and friends. His mother, Penny Trees, a fifth-grade teacher at Kissel Hill Elementary, shared the blogs with a young co-worker, Emily Gerlach. In a show of support, Emily, who is a fifth- and sixth-grade intervention specialist, reached out to Ryan via Facebook. Soon, a long-distance relationship developed. The distance shortened in the summer of 2017 when
Ryan returned stateside and was assigned to Fort Lee in Virginia. The two began traveling back and forth as often as their schedules allowed. With one or the other hitting the road, they estimate they racked up 10,000 miles on their trips between Lancaster and Fort Lee. For a time, it appeared they would have to resume their long-distance relationship, as Ryan received orders that would take him to Italy. But, before he could leave, he received a medical retirement from the Army and returned to Lancaster in September 2018. He now works for The Hershey Company.
