Audra and Joe meet as he walks his dog, Sheba, on a street in South Tampa. Love was just a month away.
By AMY SCHERZER
Published June 13, 2003
SOUTH TAMPA - Within minutes of seeing Joe Chiellini walk his dog down her street, Audra Peterson learned two crucial facts about him.
He was renting a house nearby.
And he had to rush off to coach a junior varsity football game at Tampa Catholic.
That's when Peterson's sirens went off.
He liked football as much as she, the daughter of a three-time All-American defensive back in college.
And he was Catholic, just as she was.
Who was this guy? She needed to know. She knew every one of her neighbors on Tacon Street.
"I knew I'd never seen the husky or the hunk," she said, noting Chiellini was shirtless that hot October 2001 afternoon.
Peterson had just pulled in the driveway when she spied Chiellini. She remembers getting out of the car to start a conversation about Sheba, the dog.
Chiellini's memory of the meeting? Peterson petting the dog in a low-cut red tank top.
They chatted a bit and agreed to meet later that night for beers at Red Dog Bar & Grill.
When they resumed the conversation hours later, they found they had even more in common than sports and religion.
Both loved the beach, working out at the gym, the Bucs and the Gators.
Chiellini is a Hillsborough County firefighter, assigned to Ladder 14 at Nebraska and 131st avenues. The station is the 26th busiest in the nation.
"You never know what the day will bring. It could be heroic, sometimes ungrateful or sad," he said.
When his 24-hour shift ends, Chiellini works the next 48 hours running Ameriscape USA, his landscape business. Then he's back at the fire station for 24 more.
Peterson might not personally save lives, but she makes them more livable. She sells epilepsy, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease drugs for Novartis Pharmaceuticals.
She worked for other drug companies in Chicago and San Francisco before the move to Tampa.
Within a month, Peterson says, they were in love. Chiellini told her so during a Tampa Bay Bucs game.
The only problem? They didn't go to the game together. Peterson was there with an old boyfriend from high school.
Earlier that morning, she'd left her friend sleeping on the couch while she met Joe at Mass at Christ the King. Now she was sneaking out to meet him at the concession stand.
"Joe called me on my cell phone to get me to leave the game," she said.
When she scooted out to meet him, he kissed her and told her he loved her.
She pulled her cap down over her face. Can he be serious?
"I was floored," said Peterson.
"I'm all about shock," Chiellini said.
At Christmas, he flew to Pittsburg, Kansas, to meet her parents, John and Angela Peterson.
"My father never approved of anyone I dated, but Joe, he liked immediately," she said.
Their next trip was to New York in February 2002. Peterson was there for sales training. Chiellini came up for a weekend. Their first stop, Ground Zero, was an emotional journey for the firefighter.
Seeing all the the memorials and photographs at the rubble that used to be the World Trade Center brought tears to his eyes.
"Firefighters are typically a fun-loving bunch, but 9/11 changed that," he said. "I live for today."
The next day, the couple attended Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral and took in a Knicks-Lakers game.
That evening, they made their way to Engine 16, Ladder No. 7. They wanted to meet the crew that worked with Richie Muldowney, brother of Chiellini's good friend and fellow firefighter Brian Muldowney.
"Richie died Sept. 11. His body was never found," said Chiellini.
Chiellini rode with the FDNY crew to a fire. They took Richie's old truck. Afterward, the New Yorkers insisted the couple stay for dinner. To get them to Grand Central Station in time to catch the train, they fired up the truck and sped off, lights flashing, the wrong way down a one-way street.
"They treated us like family because we are a family. I spend a third of my life at my station . . . eating, sleeping, working," Chiellini said.
Peterson came to appreciate - and support - the bond among firefighters. Even when it meant sharing her fiance with thousands of others.
Flip through the Hottest Heroes of Hillsborough - To Your Rescue in 2003 calendar, and you'll find Chiellini as Mr. August. Thousands of $15 calendars were sold to benefit the Firefighters' Widows and Children's Fund.
"I am so proud of him that I can't be jealous," said Peterson.
Last October, Chiellini shocked her again with a sunset proposal on Clearwater Beach.
"I thought it would be a while," she said. Adding to the surprise was the discovery that he had selected exactly the ring she imagined on her finger.
"And we'd never even talked about it," she said.
"Shock," he said with a big grin.
On Saturday, Peterson, 30, and Chiellini, 32, married at 4 p.m. at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Ybor City. The groomsmen were Chiellini's four brothers, Ray Jr., Mike, Chris, and Steve; his business partner and fellow firefighter, Gary Rodriguez, and Peterson's brother, John Andrew.
Five other participants - Hillsborough County firefighters Brian Muldowney, Sean Van Atter, Gil Reyes and Troy Onan, plus Steve Lyons of the FDNY - marched down the aisle in blue uniforms, hats and white gloves.
"It was the first time the honor guard performed in a wedding," said the new Mrs. Chiellini. "They were so happy to be doing something joyous and not be marching at a funeral."
Mr. and Mrs. Chiellini joined 275 guests at the Italian Club for dinner and dancing. The band, Lounge Cat, crooned their favorite song, Frank Sintra's hit, "The Best is Yet to Come."
- Know a couple getting married this summer who have a special love story to share? Call Amy Scherzer at 226-3332 or e-mail scherzer@sptimes.com
