(from: The Sacramento (California) Bee, June 15,1983) 
Terminal Love: Computer Gives It A New Meaning 
Debbie Fuhrman, 23, was using a computer service's open channel to ask
computer wizards across the country how to retrieve files stored in
another computer. Many gallant electronic knights typed in responses
to the lady in distress, but none seemed as knowledgeable as George
Mike  Stickel, 29, a Grand Prairie, Texas, copier service manager. The
pair took the computer equivalent of going outside for a walk: They
moved to a private channel so Mike could answer Debbie s technical
questions. 
"Then we started sneaking in personal questions," Mike recalls. "If
you don't mind my asking, do you have a boyfriend?" he queried
hopefully. 
"No," Debbie replied on her keyboard. Mike and Debbie "talked" on the
computer from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. that first October night, each paying
$5 an hour for the computer time. Then they talked every night for 10
days straight. 
After a few days, Mike became curious about Debbie's looks. The
5-foot-11,145-pound Mike found out he was courting a
5-foot-7,120-pound woman with long brown hair and blue eyes. 
A couple of days later Mike typed, "If you don't mind me asking, how
do you like to kiss? Do you like long, deep passionate kisses, or
shallow pecks?" 
Then one day Debbie telephoned Mike at 5:30 p.m. and said, "Do you
mind if we meet?" She left her Phoenix home for Texas a few hours
later. Debbie stayed four days. After she left, she sent Mike a piece
of electronic mail, filling his computer screen with "Mike, I love
you!" 
Several months later, on Valentine's Day, Mike and Debbie stood before
a computer terminal to be married. 
Invitations had been sent to computer friends by electronic mail. The
bride's parents "watched" the wedding in their Phoenix home on a
computer terminal. Debbie's sister was on-line at a Radio Shack store
in Sacramento. 
The Rev. Kim Payton, a Universalist minister, stood at one terminal.
Debbie and Mike stood across from him at their own terminal. A total
of 66 people scattered across North America watched the questions
appear: Do you, Debbie, take Mike to be your lawful husband? 
"I will," Debbie key-boarded. The screen flashed (((((((KISS))))))).
Then the screen erupted in a shower of "rice" (apostrophes). The
bride's mother typed in "Sniff." (c) 
Washington Post magazine