Mark Getzfred and Liz Austin were friends long before they got together. While at CoJMC they saw each other at a lot of the same parties, but they were always just friends.
After graduating, Mark started working at the Grand Island Daily Independent. Liz was still in Lincoln finishing up her undergraduate courses so she could graduate.
Liz’s best friend, Karen (Wittwer) Kiekow, had also graduated from the CoJMC and she worked at the Grand Island Daily Independent, so Liz went to Grand Island most weekends to spend time with her. Soon, it went from hanging out with Karen to hanging out with Karen and Mark.
The more Liz got to know Mark, the more he’d find excuses to cover stories in Lincoln and visit Liz who was in law school at UNL during this time.
Sitting in a Valentinos the summer before Liz’s second year of law school, they decided they wanted to get married.
“Mark was always saying when we get married this and when we get married that, it was never well, do you want to get married?” Liz said. “But it was us, we set the date after that day in Valentino’s and were married the summer before my last semester in law school.”
After Mark’s time at the Grand Island Independent he spent six months at Maverick Media in Syracuse before spending a year on the copy desk at Lincoln Journal Star.
Close friend Mike Stricklin (CoJMC professor emeritus) called Mark about a job at the Star-Telegram in Fort Worth, TX. After a winter of below zero temperatures in ‘82, it was an easy decision for the couple to move their life to Texas.
Mark worked at the Star-Telegram from 1981-1989, and Liz found her first job post law school two weeks into the move. She worked for a firm that specialized in bankruptcy, insurance, defense, trusts and estates. Eventually the couple moved to Connecticut.
“I got the idea in my head that I wanted to move to New York City, and I figured at least Connecticut is close to NYC,” Liz said. “So I went to work for Pullman & Comely, and that’s where I’ve been until I retired at the end of 2020.”
Mark worked at the Waterbury Republican-American for three years, and then went to work for a trade publication called the Journal of Commerce for eight years.
It was in July of 1999 that Mark started working for The New York Times. He’s now been at the Times for 22 years.
Having the same educational foundation from CoJMC has been a big advantage to their communication over the years.
“Liz understands why I work such long hours, nights and over the weekends because she understands the process having been at the J School,” Getzfred said.
He recalled their second anniversary. They had to cancel their plans because there was a crash at the Dallas Fort Worth airport. Liz also recounted a handful of times when they had to cancel vacations so she could be in court or deal with a new bankruptcy being filed.
“I think it helps that we’re both a bit of workaholics and Type A, but it’s really about being understanding and forgiving” Liz said. “Not everything can go right all the time and that’s okay.”
Liz and Mark have been married for almost 40 years. Their advice to other couples?
Try to have separate bathrooms.
“And you’ll want an ice maker, along with an automatic dishwasher and the mental capacity to figure out how a dishwasher should be stacked,” Liz said.
When the couple was first married they didn’t have an automatic ice maker, and there were many “battles” over the ice tray not being filled.
Their other piece of advice is to remember that you have to detach from your responsibilities once in a while, especially while on vacation. Put away your phone and don’t respond to emails, let yourself step away and don’t let your work consume you.
