Rebecca Jozwiak | staff writer

For many young adults, their college years are full of a series of complicated questions: what to study, where to live, who to be and for some — who they will fall in love with.

For Lorraine Bernitsky and George Heidekat they found the answer to this life-changing question within the walls of The Duquesne Duke office.

Lorraine, now 76, grew up in a small coal town, so when she entered college she was ready to conquer the journalism world.

After studying for two-years at Immaculata College in Philadelphia, Lorraine transferred to Duquesne to study English.

Lorraine had been an editor during her time at Immaculata, so she decided to visit The Duke’s office and look for a position – there she ran into George, now 77. Lorraine remembered their first conversation. George quoted a famous line from the iconic Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall movie – “To Have and Have Not.”

“He said to me, ‘If you need anything, just whistle,’” Lorraine said.

The couple has now been married for 53 years.

Lorraine and George officially started dating in the summer of 1969 while interning at the Pittsburgh Press.

“There wasn’t any big moment,” Lorraine said. “I think it was just because we had so much fun sparring, and we had so much in common interest wise.”

After two years of dating, the couple got married at the Duquesne Chapel in 1971. Lorraine recalled how organic their relationship was.

“I don’t even think he asked me to marry [him]!” Lorraine said while laughing. “Ever since that first meet, it was like boom, and that was it.”
Lorraine, a former assistant editor, graduated from Duquesne in 1970 with a degree in English. Afterward, she worked in copywriting, before becoming an adjunct professor for the Pittsburgh Filmmakers panel, Point Park University and La Roche College. She is now retired.

After his time as editor-in-chief for The Duke, George went on to work for suburban papers within the Pittsburgh area, which included an editing stint for the South Hills Record. In the present day, George now focuses his talents on freelance corporate writing.

The couple have a son, 42, and a daughter, 39, and reside in the Churchill neighborhood.

38 years later and a move to College Hall, The Duquesne Duke played a role in not just one but three more couples’ romantic origins.

In 2009, then-assistant editors Marissa Rosenbaum and Steve Orbanek began to date. Prior to working on The Duke’s staff Steve and Marissa did know of each other, but it was during hours of editing that the couple fell in love.

Steve was a journalism major and recalled meeting Marissa at a McAnulty College welcome picnic for freshmen. But Marissa, on the other hand, doesn’t remember this interaction.

While she doesn’t remember their initial meeting, Marissa, who was a double major in English and journalism, recalled their involvement at The Duke making them closer.

“I think we’re both very silly by nature, too,” Marissa noted. “That was probably something that attracted each of us to the other, as goofy people.”

For their first outing, Steve and Marissa planned a fancy first date on a Thursday; unfortunately, fate had other plans.

“I only know [about the first date being on a Thursday] because we were supposed to do something a lot fancier,” Marissa said while smiling. “The meeting at the paper went so long that we had no time. We ended up just getting pizza.”

Initially, the couple were nervous to publicly date as co-workers, but the two knew early on that what they had was special.

“[It]was different than other folks I had dated,” Steve said.

Marissa agreed.

“[We] were taking a risk in doing it,” Steve said. “That risk had the ultimate payoff.”

Indeed, it did. Their worries of dating in the newsroom were quelled, too; fellow editors from Steve and Marissa’s staff would end up marrying each other: Jenny Wagner and Matt Noonan wed in June 2017 and Brian Tierney and Jess Eagle, tied the knot in September 2014. The three couples attended the other’s weddings, too.

After getting engaged in December of 2011, the Orbaneks wed in July 2013. The couple currently resides in Philadelphia, where they both work in the media relations field. Marissa handles press secretary duties for the Pennsylvania Turnpike, while Steve is the director of university communications and media relations at Temple University. The couple has two daughters together – Jemma, 6, and Sophia, 2.

“We took Jemma [to Duquesne] a couple years back,” Marissa said. “Sophia will [go] one day.”

As these couples continue to grow older, new ones form. Who knows – maybe there’s a future married couple waiting in the wings in the current newsroom at this very moment.