Pittsburgh Pirates rookie Konnor Griffin met his wife, the former Dendy Hogan, when he was 14. The two were high school sweethearts.
Dendy has been a steady “steady” of the young star player throughout his path leading to the majors.
Griffin was just 19 when they got married Jan. 17 in Oxford, Miss., according to the couple’s The Knot webpage.
“My person is there. I look up, and she’s in the stands. It’s a sense of comfort. It’s the reason we got married. We wanted to travel together and do this life together. It’s definitely a blessing for me,” Griffin said in a May 1 interview with TribLive.
Marrying as a teenager may seem like a foreign concept to Gen Z or Gen Alpha, but it does still happen — and the Griffins are proof.
U.S. Census data reveals that in 1960, about 16% of women married under the age of 18, compared with 2% of women marrying under 18 in 2018.
In 2025, fewer than half (47%) of U.S. households were married couples, a dramatic shift from 50 years ago, when 66% were.
Wedding bells ring less often in the U.S. these days as the average age at first marriage increased to 30.8 for men and 28.4 for women, a sharp uptick from ages 23.5 and 21.1, respectively, in 1975.
TribLive interviewed multiple couples who chose to marry in their teens or early 20s. They chimed in on their marital moments, wisdom and takeaways.
High school wedding planner
Denise Fiorina was still in high school when she began planning a big Italian wedding to her high school sweetheart, Allan Brzezinski, also of Leechburg.
She was 17.
“I was like a kid in a candy store,” she recalled.
The couple married on Aug. 25, 1973, at the First United Methodist Church in Leechburg.
Denise was 18 and Allan was 21 when the couple celebrated with 350 guests at their reception in the former Steelworkers Union Hall along Market Street.
They honeymooned in Niagara Falls, Canada, and Lake Erie.
“And they said it wouldn’t last. We always laughed that I wasn’t old enough to drink at my wedding reception,” Denise Brzezinski recalled. “We started dating in high school when I was 15. We were high school sweethearts.”
Denise scrapped plans to enroll in nursing school and chose marriage, much to the chagrin of her father.
“My dad said I could still go to school. I said no, that I wanted to get married,” she said.
Choosing to raise a family over a formal career was important to Brzezinski.
“Having my kids was more important to me than a degree. It was from the heart,” Brzezinski said.
The couple has been married for 52 years, but a near tragedy almost left Denise a widow at age 19 when Allan fell on the job at a mill, plummeting 65 feet.
The doctor’s words to Denise at the hospital concerning her husband’s prognosis were grim.
“You may be widowed,” the doctor told Denise.
“It was terrible. All you could see of Allan was his eyes,” she said. “He was in a body cast for 14 months with a shattered foot and broken vertebrae. It was rough. I was his sole caregiver.”
Denise’s advice to folks marrying young is to be realistic.
“Every day won’t be jolly,” she said.
Her enduring marriage is a source of pride, and now that the couple is in their early 70s, they treasure every day together.
“We were best friends first. He always made me laugh. He still does. At 18 today, I would tell them to make sure that they want to be in it for the long haul. It’s not always easy. There’s a lot to think about. You’re just not saying words when you say your vows,” Denise said.
Love bugs turned shutterbugs
Matthew Olsen was 18 and Chrissy Fajtak was 20 on their wedding day in 2008. (Courtesy of Chrissy Olsen)
Matthew Olsen was 18 and Chrissy Fajtak was 20 and had just finished her associate degree in fine arts at the Community College of Beaver County.
After three years of dating, they married on June 6, 2008, in Aliquippa and celebrated with a family dinner afterwards.
Reaction from both sides of the family was supportive but hesitant.
“Extended family told me I was too young, I needed to explore the world, and we were too young to settle down,” Christine said. “We met in high school. Matthew had attended Sewickley Academy and I saw him in the hall one day and thought, ‘Boy who is that?’ ”
Christine’s mother and grandmother both married at 18.
“My parents also met at Ambridge High School, and my mom was excited. She couldn’t wait to have grandchildren,” said Christine, now 38.
For her, moving out of her childhood home to her marital home was a bit of an adjustment.
“I had to run my own house. My mom taught me things, and it was a learning curve for me — being responsible for the homemaking,” Christine said.
The couple has three school-age children and will celebrate their 18th wedding anniversary next month.
They and operate Weddings By Sal and Bella (the couple’s nicknames in high school when passing love notes; heaven forbid someone’s real name be on a note), providing photography for more than 15 years.
“I don’t see many kids getting married in their teens. Most of our couples have graduated from college or are in college. And we encourage our kids to find themselves before they get married. I don’t want them to jump in without getting to know their partner. But being so young, we didn’t know what it was like being on your own but when you find the right person, sometimes you don’t want to wait.”
“Our kids really know our story because we tie it into our wedding business. We found each other young and we’ve been through life together,” Christine Olsen said.
“I just knew I always wanted a wife and a family and everything just kind of fell into place. She was my first serious relationship,” Matthew said.
‘Studmuffin and Babe’
Shawna Morrill was 19 when she married her husband, Bill Johns, 20 years ago. (Courtesy of Shawna Johns)
Shawna Morrill was 19 when she married Bill Johns at Kittanning Church of Christ on Aug. 19, 2006.
“None of our parents gave us any issues,” Shawna Johns said.
Shawna has Studmuffin in her phone as Bill’s contact and Bill calls her Babe.
The couple is raising two teenage daughters in Leechburg. Shawna has used her teen bride experience as a teachable moment for her daughters.
“I have told them getting married to your father was the best decision for me at the time, but I highly recommend going to college and living on your own for a while and traveling. I’ve never been on my own,” Shawna said.
She chose to marry and decided not to pursue a medical degree in obstetrics/gynecology at Seton Hill University.
“I feel like I missed out on some things, but at the same time I gained so much,” said Shawna, now 39.
The couple began dating in May of Shawna’s senior year. She moved in with him soon after graduating high school, and he proposed seven months later. Bill was 28 when his teen bride, Shawna, said her vows.
“My family just loved my husband and the running joke is they love him more than they love me,” said Shawna, an in-home care nurse specializing in dementia cases.
She shared her advice for young lovers eager to get hitched.
“If they feel they want to get married, they should live with that person for a few years. You don’t know how the relationship was going to be until you live with that person,” Shawna said. “Does that person really have the
same interest as you? Is that person a slob?”
Marital bliss had a few bumps along the way as the couple approaches their 20th wedding anniversary this year.
“Within the first five years, we had to do marital counseling and it was good because it was coming from an outsider’s point of view,” she said. “My other advice is to try the same interests that your partner has. My husband is big into billiards and we still play together after all these years, and he plays softball because of me.”
Young love, big Leaps
Madison Valente and Steven Angel were 18 and 19 when they married in 2018. (Courtesy of Madison Angel)
Madison Valente and Steven Angel both grew up in Fayette County and met at Albert Gallatin High School.
They were like a young love train.
“He was my first and only boyfriend and I was in ninth grade. Once we got together, we knew from the beginning we would get married and build our future together,” Madison said.
Steven enlisted in the Navy after high school and the couple married on Dec. 14, 2018, when Madison was finishing her senior year. Madison was 18 and Steven was 19.
The couple used a self-uniting marriage license, legal in Pennsylvania, and they chose to have both mothers as witnesses.
In Pennsylvania, anyone 18 or older is legal to marry on their own.
Being a married high school student didn’t come without a bit of talk about town.
“Word got around that I got married. People in a small town talk. My senior quote mentioned following my heart,” she said. “I graduated on May 19, and two weeks later, I was on a plane to Guam with one suitcase. We lived on the Naval base.”
The couple lived together for three years in Guam and while there, Madison planned a traditional wedding back home.
“Pretty much every day was a honeymoon there. It’s such a beautiful place,” Madison said of Guam.
Marrying in high school holds no regrets for Madison.
“It was a big leap that I took. It was a bold decision,” she said.
After three years in Guam, the couple remarried in October 2022 with a church wedding ceremony and reception with 400 guests.
The Angels are raising two sons: Valen, 2, and Madden, 1.
“Being a mom, you need all the energy that you can get. My boys don’t stop until they go to bed,” said Madison, who works full-time in the insurance industry.
Pray together, stay together
Oakmont resident Richard Bowman had to ask his parents for permission for a doozy of an event when he was 17.
“My grandparents (Richard and Judy Bowman) got married right out of high school and had to get special permission from his parents since Richard was a minor,” said granddaughter Erin Bowman. “They’ve been married 56 years.”
Janet and Richard Bowman checked in with TribLive from their early anniversary vacation trip at the Grand Canyon to talk about why they married in their teens.
“We wanted to make a life together and were far more mature than other young people our age,” Richard said. “We’re committed Christians and wanted to build a God-centered marriage and family.”
He worked in software development for more than 50 years to support his family.
The couple offered advice on navigating marriage at a young age.
“Don’t sweat the little stuff,” Richard said. “Honor and respect one another and when possible, always defer to the other person. You don’t have to get your way. The family that prays together stays together.”
Surgery surprise
Kathleen and Robert White of Parks Township. (Courtesy of Robert White)
Robert White of Parks Township had the best Valentine’s Day gift ever at the former Citizens General Hospital in New Kensington.
White was 19, preparing to undergo his fifth operation from injuries sustained in a very bad motorcycle wreck, when he met 18-year-old X-ray tech Kathleen Schmiech of Vandergrift.
“She was wearing a uniform and her smile was overwhelming. I was like, ‘Oh my God,’ and it was a shock,” White, now 70, recalled.
Kathleen and Robert married at a justice of the peace in Vandergrift in 1975.
They’ve raised three adult daughters and have seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Robert said he was never expecting to find his life partner that day in the hospital.
“I saw her and for me it was love at first sight,” Robert said.
He credits Kathleen for his happiness and longevity now that he’s 70.
“Every day we celebrate together,” Robert said. “Since 1973, I’ve had 33 operations and she has been my angel keeping me together. I think that’s an important factor.”
