Two free spirits, bound by God
J
ean Paul Yirka and Elizabeth avail as an unseen author was weaving Challinor met each other through these two stories into one, and so finaltheir children’s involvement in ly there was a wedding day. Assumption Catholic School in 2002. Before Father Hamilton began the They had lived in Mass, he addressed vastly different worlds: those gathered: “I’m Jean Paul, a true hipsure most of us are pie from the woods, Use your phone’s QR code thinking the same living without electric- reader to see Jean Paul thing: ‘What took you ity or many worldly and Elizabeth Challinor’s so long?!’” trappings, and Eliza- Instagram reel, by Model This sacrament of beth, a probation offi- Strangers, here: marriage bound Jean cer and artist, always Paul and Elizabeth happy to be immersed tightly together, and in the vibrant energy through the years proof the city. A strange vided the grace and couple indeed. Unstrength to ride out any likely to make an easy storms of discontent. go of it. Many around A union of those two them had their doubts alone would have been about the longevity of a challenge to say the this unusual pairing. least, but a marriage They kept compabetween three [God] ny with each other nonetheless, for was a chance for perfection. months and several years. As strange as it may seem, Jean Jean Paul was, at times, like a fish Paul and Elizabeth continue to fall in caught on a hook, thrashing and fight- love with each passing year. He reing to get away. And Elizabeth would mains wild and irreverent, but she sometimes pray for divine intervention has learned to live happily with her so that she could be free from this wild woodsman. Both Jean Paul and Elizand irreverent woodsman. abeth know in their hearts that only But their interior protests were to no death will separate them.
In Living Colour
THEN AND NOW: Left, on their wedding day in 2007. They were married at Assumption Church, and went to Myrtle Rocks for photos (by wedding photographer Patricia Sparks). Below, on vacation in Ireland in late 2023. At Ballinskelligs, left, and at Derry, right. Photos from the Yirka-Challinors’ personal collection
6 February 2024 • qathetliving.ca
