HUMBOLDT COUNTY, Nevada, Nov. 16, 2001

Fifth Time Was A Charm

But Cupid Said: 'Not So Fast, Bub'

  • Steve Hartman

    Steve Hartman  (CBS)

(CBS)  As always, CBS News Correspondent Steve Hartman used the random toss of a dart to dictate the latest destination in his journey to prove that Everybody Has a Story. This time, he traveled west, where he met a man who used to think he was unlucky in love.
Like most visitors to Humbolt County, Nevada, I came here hoping to hit a gold mine.

But unlike most visitors, I actually did. That's going to be Bob Frayser. At the Newport Gold Mining Company, 37-year-old Bob helps maintain a fleet of giants – trucks that are so massive that you could play a game of poker around one of the hubcaps.

The trucks can carry 240 tons of earth. And in each load, believe it or not, there's enough microscopic gold to make engagement rings for every single one of Bob's former fiancees.

"Some people are lucky in love," says he. "I am not. No, I'm not."

His story begins nearly 20 years ago, when this Boy Scout, a sweetheart of a guy, bought his first engagement ring. Her name was Kathy and her answer was yes, until --

"She got married," says Bob.

To somebody else?

"Yeah, about four weeks before our wedding."

Bob has now been engaged so many times, he says, "I don't forget the names. I forget the order."

Says Kevin Voight, Bob's best friend, "Bobby wanted to have a wife, kids, and settle down. This is what he always wanted."

And every fiancee left him weeks before the wedding.

Bob says, "Through sheer self-protection, I had concluded myself to be a bachelor. I had concluded that was my destiny. But we move on to number five."

Number five, Denell, did not back out weeks before the wedding. No, This one went right down to the wire. It was to be their wedding day at a tiny church north of town. Denell's family was all seated there, and so was Bob's there. The candles were lit, the tissues ready. After nearly two decades of trying, Bob Frayser was finally going to get married, at 3:00 sharp.

"The phone rang, and it was for me. And it was Denell," recalls Bob. "She was coming, but she was running late. And nothing could have ruined that day then."

Today, four years later, Bob is now working around small trucks as well. He has a boy named Morgan, and a girl named Sharla, who came with the marriage, as an added bonus. And as for all those previous attempts?

"I think they missed out, I really do," says Denell. "They probably couldn't ave found a better guy. I win."



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