Sixty Years Ago Today

In Chillicothe, Illinois, on this date sixty years ago, Ray and I were married. That is a long, long time ago. My sister, Joanne, was my maid of honor, and Ray's best friend, Darrell, was his best man. That was our wedding party.

A tattered, rather yellow napkin saved for all these years.

We had just a handful of pictures. The young fellow we had hired to take them had a dead battery in his camera and had to go get one so the only pictures were about five that we posed for after the reception. I doctored up the bottom picture since it was very unclear and faded. It turned out pretty good - better than it was. This one was taken by an old gentleman who would come into the law office where I worked. His name was Louie Sibley and he lived in a old folks home in Peoria and for years had been coming into the office to see the attorneys and Catherine, the secretary that had been there forever. He was a funny little fellow - he would come in, stand there and talk for a while, then all of sudden it was "goodbye" and he was gone. I am grateful to Louie for this picture of the table and cake and the bride and groom. Louie had no family and when he died we closed the office and went to his funeral. It was sad - hardly anyone there. I was so glad we went.

Today the family is all heading for Mackinac Island where my oldest granddaughter will be married tomorrow. I so look forward to our all being together again and especially for such a happy occasion. I wish for them a long and happy marriage filled with love and the ability to get over all the bumps in the road on this joint journey through life. Smooth sailing, my dears!!

(Click to enlarge)