This past October 12 was my mother and fathers' 65th wedding anniversary. Wow!!! That sentence just leaves me in silent awe. My mind reels in that number - I try to identify with that amount of time and all I can think of - is that is longer than I have been alive. Which is - of course - correct.
I have the privilege of living across the street from my folks - John and Lorna. We eat together at least 5 nights a week and sometimes 6. I had the opportunity to talk with them about their wedding and what happened 65 years ago and this is what I have learned. I should have asked these questions 10 years ago - it is hard for them to remember now. But this is what I did get.
Everything happened in 1946. Dad got out of the army - sometime in the spring of that year. Mom and Dad met on a blind date. It was love at first sight. They sent every day together. They loved to go dancing. They went to all the different dance halls in or around Chicago. It was a great summer. Then Grandpa Somes made plans for Mom to go to an all girl school in Tennessee. Before Mom left - Dad sold his car to buy Mom her engagement ring and a new suit. Neither one could remember how Dad proposed but it did happen before Mom went off to school.
Then in October of that year Dad with a couple of good friends went down to Tennessee to see Mom. I asked how did he get there since he sold his car and he doesn't remember. I'm betting Bill and Gloria's car. (The good friends) Sometime during this visit they decided to just get married now and they eloped. Dad and Mom spent the week-end together - short honeymoon - before Dad went back to Chicago and Mom went back to class. Dad didn't remember the honeymoon and Mom just said "Thanks". It was a good thing that Dad was on one side of the table and Mom the other because I think Mom would have hit Dad. Sixty-five years is a long time but you should never forget your honeymoon.
They didn't tell their families. They just went on with their lives. Mom didn't tell her roommates at school or anyone but somehow her Father found out. They remember that whoever told Grandpa - they went to see him at his office. My memory of Grandpa is a very stern man that hardly smiled. Dad said that he had to go face the music and doesn't remember what happened but in our imagination it couldn't have been good.
Mom and Dad lived apart for the first 8 months of their marriage. Dad said that they saw each other at Christmas and that was it. They were not allowed to stay together over the Christmas holiday and they had to sneak away to be together. Needless to say the parents were not happy. Sometime in here - Dad's folks sold their house and moved into an apartment. There wasn't any room for Dad so he had to find his own place. He lived at the YMCA for awhile - until he got kicked out. The Y is a temporary housing facility. Grandma Somes found Dad a room at a boarding house. It was just a bedroom in a big house and he had to share the bathroom with everyone else.
When Mom finished her first year in school they got married again - by a Priest - in the Priest's home - on June 21, 1947. All the parents were there and much happier. Mom then moved in with Dad - in that one bedroom - no private bath for the first year of their marriage.
Mom has two wedding bands. She wore them on both sides of her engagement ring for over 50 years. She has never taken the first wedding band off her finger in 65 years. She has argued with Doctors before surgery and won - she wore a bandaged over her ring during these times. She almost had to get it cut off during her "fat" years but she endured that. Maybe that was her motivation to loose the weight.
During their first year - they tell stories of working during the day. Mom's only job ever - a file clerk. Going dancing at night and keeping milk outside on the window sill to keep it cold. A hot plate they had to hide because it wasn't allowed. Their second place was a real apartment - one bedroom. They didn't start their family until they were married for 3 years.
Sixty-five years - 3 children - 10 grandchildren and 22 great grandchildren and counting. Only one word comes to mind - WOW!!
2 comments:
That's a pretty neat story. They are such intereting people from an amazing generation.
Wow. 65 years is amazing. And I love the story. I had never heard several of those details before. I always think it would be so interesting to have known your parents or grandparents back in the day. But Grandpa Somes sounds scary. :) Thanks for sharing this, Mom!!
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