Wis. 'Cheese Lady' weds Navy man

MANITOWOC, Wis., July 4 (UPI) -- Wisconsin's "Cheese Lady" says she's marrying a retired Navy commander enamored by her efforts to sculpt an aircraft carrier out of cheddar.

Professional cheese sculptor Sarah Kaufmann, 57, first caught the eye of retired U.S. Navy Cmdr. Bill Parry, 67, as they were aboard a plane and she was poring over the plans for her 6-foot-long sculpture of the USS Ronald Reagan, which was unveiled at the ship's home-porting ceremony, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Saturday.

The two were to wed Saturday in Manitowoc, Wis., on the shores of Lake Michigan, dressed in pirate costumes.

"(Kaufmann) was looking at a blueprint of an aircraft carrier, and I asked what she was doing," Parry said of their airborne meeting. "I said I was with the Navy, and she explained that she was studying the aircraft carrier because she had sculpted it in cheese for Sargento, which does business with the Navy."

Kauffman, who has been the creative director for the Wisconsin dairy industry, created a bridal carving of a Jolly Roger, with the skull-and- crossbones made of Monterrey Jack.