Cupid's Arrow Hits a Far Target

In January of 2008 Seth Joseph was a comedian from Oklahoma who was looking to build his career by moving either to Los Angeles or New York.

He was also looking to expand his dating pool. “I had gone through every dateable person in Oklahoma,” he said.

So Joseph created a profile on the dating site OkCupid, and expanded the search field to the maximum range of miles. He stumbled upon the profile of Abby Wentworth, a New Jersey native who had just settled into a new role with the Teach for America headquarters in Manhattan.

Wentworth was a little surprised at seeing a message from someone thousands of miles away. “I was very busy with work and I wasn't looking for anyone outside of New York,” she said.

But, she was curious enough to respond, and she and Joseph started exchanging more messages. It turns out Joseph had a childhood friend who knew Wentworth from Teach for America who helped arrange things. He visited a few weeks later and made a decision. He would build his comedy career in New York, because he wanted to be with Abby.

He and Wentworth moved into a Hoboken apartment in August of 2008, and got engaged in February of 2011. They had talked about getting married, but Wentworth said she didn't expect when exactly Joseph would propose. He picked an ordinary evening and surprised her in their apartment after she returned home from a long day full of errands.

“The ring was burning a hole in his pocket,” Wentworth said.

The two are planning a wedding in Oklahoma, where most of Joseph's family lives, for July of 2012. In the meantime, Wentworth will continue working for Teach for America, where she designs the interview process for 50,000 yearly applicants, and Joseph will continue his day job as a curator for the 9/11 Memorial.

Joseph will still do comedy too, including hosting . He said his future wife is very supportive of his dream, as well as being “self-assured, extremely sweet, and empathetic.”

Wentworth described Joseph as “the kind of guy who makes friends on an airplane.”

“He like people,” she said. “He likes the world, he likes finding out what strangers are like.”

Jospeh concurred, and added one more thing he likes about his future wife.

“I was also looking for a woman smarter than me,” he joked. “I found her.”

Are you married, engaged or have a special Hoboken-related love story? Patch would love to hear about it. Send an email to alanskontra@hotmail.com.