Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Wish You Were Here

This would have been my parents' 67th wedding anniversary. I wanted to put up a photo in honor of the day, so I went searching through my albums. I knew I wouldn't find a wedding photo because there weren't any. My mom and dad were married in 1942, two months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and just before my father enlisted in the Navy. It was a sudden decision, with the ceremony performed at the county courthouse – no fancy trappings or guests. And no commemorative photos.

But just finding a photograph of the two of them together was a challenge. Neither of them really liked having their picture taken, so they rarely sat for professional photographers. This shot is one of the earliest I found – taken in 1939 when they were high school sweethearts. They "went together" for a number of years before he popped the question. According to my mom's version of the romantic tale, he told her if she'd just get a job they could get married!

Well, she never got that job – her only ambition was to be a housewife and mother. And it took the uncertainty of a World War to push my father into action. They were happily married for fifteen years – until he died of heart failure a few months before his 37th birthday. My mother never remarried.

Yes, he was very tall – unfortunately, his height is something I didn't inherit. And although in this photo my teenaged mother looks like she's dressed herself from Salvation Army bins, she ordinarily had a much sharper fashion sense!

I miss them both.

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Cross-posted on Joysweb

3 comments:

  1. The photo is so nice!! I love old photos and the stories behind them :) They look like a cute couple together.
    You dad died very young, I'm sorry about that. It also seems you lost your mother too, I'm sorry.. May both their souls rest in peace!

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  2. I love the idea of this online photo album. You're inspiring me to try something similar.

    Your parents look so sweet! Sorry to hear you lost him so early.

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  3. Hi, Nettie! Good to hear from you. Yes, I love going through all the old family photos and thought it would be interesting to put some online. Haven't really kept up with this blog, but it's still fun to play with every now and then.

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