Broken furnace led to love for Pierce County couple. Watch their story on national TV
Zoey Dering’s husband didn’t know what his wife thought of him the first day they met until she told their love story on stage
Dering, 67 of Gig Harbor, will share her story with the world on an episode of the TV show “Stories from the Stage.”
The show is similar to a TED Talk. Two show hosts, Theresa Okokon and Wes Hazard, have guests come to their studio and share real-life experiences.
“You’ll hear tales of love and loss, amazing adventures, incredible surprises and unexpected triumphs,” according to worldchannel.org. “In each show, we get up close & personal with storytellers about what inspires them and the craft of storytelling.”
The show drops new episodes on Monday nights. It airs locally on KCTSW and can be streamed afterward on the PBS streaming app.
Dering’s episode (Season 7, episode 10) will air at 6:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 12, and again at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 13. The episode is 30 minutes long and features three different love stories, one of which is Dering’s.
Dering took the stage and shared how a Gig Harbor Christian singles group led her to her soulmate. The segment is part of the show’s Valentine’s Day episode: “From the Heart.”
The episode trailer is available at pbs.org/video/stories-from-the-stage-from-the-heart-preview.
“A woman looks for love on the dance floor; a woman turns up the heat at a Christian singles group; a man travels across the world and meets his love,” the episode description says.
All “Stories from the Stage” episodes are filmed at GBH Studios in Boston.
Guests are picked through an application process. Those interested pitch their story ideas, Dering told the Gateway. The show gets thousands of pitches.
For the Valentine’s segment, show staff told Dering over 1,500 people applied, she said.
How Dering found the show
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dering had open heart surgery to replace a valve, she said.
“I did bypass on two arteries and a pacemaker all the same day in 2021,” she said.
She fell in love with the TV show during her recovery and was inspired to share her own love story.
After she applied it took six months before she heard back from the show staff that she got a spot.
Her love story is full of quirky details like how they met, their first date, and why she stuck around.
Dering filmed her segment over a year ago inside the studio, she said. It was supposed to air for the Valentine’s Day segment last year, but because of the 2023 writers’ strike, show staff held onto the episode until this year, Dering said.
She wasn’t convinced of finding love at first
Dering grew up in Tacoma and graduated from Pacific Lutheran University. After graduating, she became a nurse for the United States Navy.
She got married and had three kids, then was divorced in 1985.
She and her kids moved around for her job, but landed back in the Pacific Northwest in 1988, in the Gig Harbor area.
She was working as a nurse at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma when her friend suggested Dering try out a Christian singles group. At that time in 2001, Dering had been divorced for about 15 years.
She decided to give the group a try. The group met at Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church, at 7700 Skansie Ave. in Gig Harbor.
During the first meeting she attended, she said she remembered questioning if the group was something she wanted to keep attending.
“I remember sitting down across from a guy who was not good looking at all,” she said. “... They also had chicken wings at the event, and they were so hot that my eyes started watering, but the pastor, Stuart Bond, thought I was touched from connections in the room, which was not the case.”
Dering said the guy across from her looked like “Krusty the Clown” from “The Simpsons” because of his hair.
Because the wings were hot, she asked if he could get her some water. The man laughed at her, but got her water.
She learned he was a father of two, and had been divorced for five years, she said.
She wasn’t immediately sold on the group, but kept showing up.
“I was a workaholic,” she said. “I liked the company of gathering with everyone regularly.”
At one point she asked Pastor Bond to recommend an electrician, and he pointed to the guy who gave her water at the first meeting.
“I thought, ‘oh God no, anyone else please,’” she said. “But, I swallowed my pride.”
Her furnace had stopped working and he agreed to come fix it.
A few weeks later the electrician called to check on the furnace, and also had another question to ask her, which she reveals to the “Stories from the Stage” audience.
The two began dating, and just four months later Pastor Bond married them. They’ve been married for 20 years.
There’s a reason why the two return to Sheri’s in Port Orchard every year for their anniversary. Those who watch the “Stories from the Stage” episode learn why.
Her husband did not know any of these background details or thoughts she had about him in their early interactions until he heard her share their story on the stage. He was in the audience, she said.
When asked what her husband’s reaction was, Dering said: “He was laughing so hard he had tears coming down his face.”
She said they joke around with each other all the time.
And she “gave him redemption at the end,” she said, by telling the audience that he looks like “George Clooney” now.
Dering shares additional details of their love story and what it’s been like to find love after divorce in the episode.
This story was originally published February 12, 2024 at 10:00 AM.
