EPHRATA - Gary Weddle almost cried when he talked about learning Osama bin Laden was dead.

"A coworker called in when I was outside in the garden. My wife comes running up with the cellphone barefoot saying, 'Honey, you've got to talk to a fellow teacher,'" he said. "At first I thought it was very bad news. She teases me at first ... then she says, 'Oh by the way, Osama bin Laden is dead.'"

The 50-year-old Ephrata Middle School science teacher had been growing his beard since the 9/11 attack, he said.  

"I trusted her enough to believe it and it was a very emotional moment," Weddle said. "I thanked her and got on the television station and flipped through channels to see if he had, in fact, been caught and captured ... within a few moments I could not help but cry."

Weddle started growing the beard by accident after the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. He made the decision after a few days of watching new coverage.

"The morning came as a shock," he said. "Watching those towers come down it was quite obvious we were losing a lot of civilians ... It was certainly more lives lost in that moment than we lost at Pearl Harbor. It wasn't just the lives. It was the loved ones and the families, the husbands, the children being left behind."

As he watched the coverage, Weddle said he didn't shower, eat or shave. After about three days of not shaving, he decided to keep the beard until bin Laden was killed or captured. 

"I've showered. I've ate, but I knew the beard was going to stay because I didn't want to forget," he said. "I would not let this pass by ... It started mostly for me, but it quickly evolved because under the Taliban rule they keep their beards, and so it became a symbol for that, and I kind of secretly hoped that everyone would grow beards too."

Weddle said he reluctantly told his neighbor about his decision. The news spread from there. At the time he started growing the beard, he thought it would be six months until bin Laden was caught.

"I remember thinking, 'Six months for the United States of America; for crying out loud, we know where everyone is,'" he said. "So I was surprised ... I had not anticipated it would be 10 years. I should have given up watermelon. Who would have noticed?"

Weddle called the beard fun, saying he joked about it being a windsock, put pencils in it and held it under his glasses to pretend to be Cousin It. Most students supported his decision.

"They thought it was cool that was the vernacular, everything was cool," he said. "I would have to step through the entire process when it came through the Taliban and Osama bin Laden, different concepts of religious practice. I would have to step through it and why I took the stand I had. They were enthralled. Kids love storytelling."

People often told Weddle about their suspicions that bin Laden was dead, and telling him to cut off the beard. He didn't regret his decision.

"I figure Andy Warhol would say I'm on 14 of my 15 minutes of fame," he said. "I'm glad that the nation stood up. That we have pulled together in certain ways to take this more seriously."

His three daughters grew up with him having a beard, Weddle said, adding they don't remember him without it.

"The wife loathed it, but she respected me. We've been married 22 years, so it wasn't the beard," he said.