As a high school Home Economics teacher, she met, fell in love with, and married Phoebes half-brother, Frank Buffay, Jr. Phoebe at first disapproved of their marriage because Alice was 44 and Frank 18. Later, Frank and Alice, trying unsuccessfully to have children, asked Phoebe to be a surrogate mother for them. Phoebe agreed and gave birth to triplets: one boy (Frank Jr. Jr.) and two girls (Leslie and Chandler).