Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

Today would have been Mom and Dad's 75th wedding anniversary.

They were married November 6, 1932 in the parsonage of the little church that my Mother attended. It was a very small wedding with only the witnesses attending, and the minister's wife playing the organ. Not even the parents of the bride and groom attended. I found that a bit strange, but I guess that's the way things were done back then, unless of course you were having a huge wedding production.

I found a newspaper article in one of my Grandmother's scrapbooks about their wedding. It stated that following the wedding the bride's family held a wedding supper at the home of the bride with only immediate family in attendance. Apparently things were kept pretty low key due to the fact that finances were on the short side during the Dust Bowl days and the Depression. The article stated that "there were several toasts to the good health of the bride and groom." I have the wine glasses that were used for the toast by the bride and groom. They're in my china closet, and are tiny things about 4 inches high with a pretty etched design. Both families were tea-totalers, so I'm surprised they had wine at all.

They didn't have a honeymoon but moved immediately to a farm that my Dad was renting. They moved a number of times back in those days before my father finally bought a farm in 1946. He farmed during the dry years and dust storms of the 30s and told of selling big roosters for 15 cents each, and of putting grain seed in the ground for seven years before getting any kind of a crop. He told of his cows eating thistles because there was nothing else to eat, and of banks of dirt blown against the buildings like snow blows in the winter.

They grew up on farms about three miles apart, but I think it's a miracle that they got together at all. You see, my father was Norwegian and my mother was Swedish. Back in those days the Norwegians and the Swedes didn't mix very well, at least not in that community. Dad went to the Norwegian Lutheran Church and Mom went to the Swedish Lutheran Church, which were only two miles apart. Imagine such segregation in THIS day and age.

They met at a barn dance that one of the neighbors had, but to begin with didn't see much of each other. As time went on I guess the flame grew and they were eventually engaged in 1929 at age 24. They were engaged for three years before they got married at age 27 and then waited another four years to start a family.

After my Mom died at age 91 I was going through her things and found the "Warranty" papers on her engagement ring. Dad bought it from Montgomery Wards and it cost $29.95. It has a quarter carat diamond in it with two triangular shaped blue sapphires. And even at that price the stones are for real - I've had them checked out by a jeweler friend of ours. My mother gave me her engagement ring before she died and I have since passed it on to Lovely Daughter, who wears it on a daily basis. It's a very ornate filigree design that seems to be coming back in style. Dad never had a wedding ring as there just wasn't money to do those things, although he was VERY married all his life, if you get my meaning.

My Dad was a rather quiet man with a wonderful sense of humor, who stood over 6 feet tall with curly blond hair. Mom was quite slender with dark curly hair. Her wedding dress was a soft pink. I have both her wedding dress and the shoes that she wore. I have the wedding dress stored away but need to get it out and take it somewhere to have it preserved so it doesn't disintegrate. Someday I just may have a grand daughter who might want to wear it.

Enough reminiscing. Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad.