US family love story returns to Mosta Dome

A US couple marked their 30th wedding anniversary by renewing their vows at the Mosta Dome – the same church, and with the same priest, where both they and the groom’s parents were married.

Michael, 62, and Caryn Puehse, 57, travelled from Scottsdale, Arizona to mark their anniversary at the exact location where their lives together began on June 10, 1995. But the connection to Mosta Dome runs even deeper: it’s also where Michael’s parents, Hans and Gina, were married on the same date in 1962.

The couple had originally hoped to mark their 25th wedding anniversary in Malta in 2020, but their plans were disrupted when COVID-19 travel restrictions cancelled flights and halted travel worldwide. 

They were determined to return.

Hans Puehse and Gina Calleja wedding day at Mosta Dome in June 1962.

“Malta has a special place in our hearts. My parents had a wonderful marriage. It’s a great place to be married because it’s so unique,” Michael said.

The vow renewal took place this week, exactly 30 years to the day since the couple’s wedding at the Mosta Dome on June 10, 1995. The ceremony was officiated by Fr John Scicluna, the same priest who had led their original ceremony and who had married Michael’s parents.

Fr Scicluna had presided over a virtual vow renewal for the couple in 2020, but the Puehses were determined to return in person. They were joined by friends and family, some flying in from the US to mark the occasion.

The trip held particular emotional weight for Michael. His parents – German-born Hans Puehse and Maltese native Gina Calleja – had both passed away in recent years. Gina died in November, five years after her husband. Their ashes were brought to Malta and scattered in the surrounding seas, as the family had long intended.

“I kept their ashes and always knew in my heart that when they both passed, I’d scatter them in the sea near the place where their love story started,” he said.

A ceremony for them was held in St Paul’s Bay on Saturday, again led by Fr Scicluna.

The Puehse family, accompanied by friends, scattered the ashes of the late Gina and Hans Puehse in St Paul’s Bay. Photo: Courtesy of family

The Puehses’ connection to Mosta runs deep. Michael’s mother spent her childhood living in a house just across the street from Mosta Dome. She met Hans in Germany in 1959, when she walked into a bank to cash traveller’s cheques and caught the eye of the young teller.

“He asked her where she was from, and when she said Malta, he went into the back office to ask someone where Malta was,” Michael said.

Hans later took a job in Libya to be closer to Malta, and after three years of long-distance courtship, the couple wed in Malta before moving to San Francisco, where they began to raise a family of four.

Michael and Caryn, now 57, met through a mutual friend. When it came time to plan their wedding, they decided to return to Malta – and the same church where his parents had tied the knot.

“My parents’ story provided the inspiration,” Michael said. “Our wedding was Caryn’s first time in Malta.”

Now, 30 years later, their children – 27-year-old twins, Tristan and Nic, and 24-year-old Natasha – joined them in marking the occasion. They hope the tradition – and the special connection to Malta – continues for generations to come.