‘Guinness Book’s’ Tallest Couple Visits Newtown Relatives

By Kendra Bobowick

“We have some famous people in Newtown today!” said Toddy Hill Road resident Jennifer Wilson. She and her husband Mike hosted a family reunion on the weekend of August 6 that was traditional — paper pates full of baked ziti or grilled chicken, children in the swimming pool, guests seated in lawn chairs — except for Ms Wilson’s aunt and uncle, Laurie and Wayne Hallquist, visiting from Stockton, Calif.

The couple is in the Guinness Book of World Records as of 2010 as the world’s tallest living married couple. Together they are more than 13 feet tall. Wayne is 6 feet, 10.4 inches, and Laurie is 6 feet, 5.95 inches.

They knew they were tall, but did not yet realize how tall. They had found that the record-holding tallest couple was a man and woman both more than seven feet tall, but they had not considered living couples until his sister brought it to their attention. Wayne’s sister Lori Haedt read a news article featuring Valentine’s Day couples’ stories and learned that the record for the tallest living couple was a combined height of 13 feet, 3 inches. “I thought, [Laurie and Wayne] could challenge that,” she said. They beat it by one inch.

She soon had her brother and his wife convinced to go through the process for the Guinness record. Remembering the many measurements and professionals involved in verifying their heights, he said, “It was a lot of work, but we had to do it.” They are officially the tallest married couple as of 2010.

As family members gathered around the couple Saturday, a few took out video cameras or point-and-shoots to remember the moment while their record-holding relatives talked about being tall. Both admitted that they had tall fathers, both roughly 6 feet, 7 inches, and neither was surprised when they kept growing.

“It was not unpleasant for me,” Wayne said, but then looked at his wife who had a different answer. Laurie said, “It’s tougher to be a tall girl.”

The couple met at a church function when others there looked from one to the other, Wayne recalled. “We didn’t expect anything; we weren’t looking [for a partner], but there she was, and there I was,” he said. Wayne offered another unusual detail about their now eight-year marriage. “Six months after we met, we married.”

Originally from Trumbull, Wayne visited his hometown earlier this month, and was in Newtown for the Wilson and Hallquist family reunion, started roughly 17 years ago by Jennifer Wilson’s parents, Kathy and Jeff Hallquist. This year Jennifer carried on the family tradition with a pig roast and reunion at her Toddy Hill home.

Enjoying the family picnic in Newtown were relatives from as far away as California, Minnesota, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Maryland. Wayne and his siblings Sandi, Jeff, Scot, and Lori are the children of Dorothy and Everett Hallquist. They grew up in Trumbull and as they started their own families they spread out across America, Jennifer Wilson explained.