June 16, 1957: Phyllis and Sam are married. Best Men: Fred Morgan, George Menchner, George Pepperdine, Jr. Ring Bearer: Larry Benatz.Flower Girl: Janice Benatz. Brides Maids: Lucy Northcut, Frances Zadrick, Ruth Slocum (PJ’s sister)
WEDDING MEMORIES – 1957-2020
by
Phyllis J. Turner
So much is happening. How do I sort all this out?
Baccalaureate and graduation. Baccalaureate is May 26 (my Birthday!), Graduation is May 30. No parents will be here. They are in Illinois packing to drive to Grand Canyon for my wedding. Mom and Ruth are coming, too.
Why is the wedding at the Grand Canyon? Sam’s family had lived there for 17 years, plus Sam and I met there.
Aunt Lucile, Edie, and Grandpa Slocum will be at the University of Arizona for Graduation. They live in Flagstaff.
Surprise! I look behind Aunt Lucile and there is my dad! He flew here to be at my graduation. Then, he has to fly home so he can drive Mom and Ruth to the Grand Canyon for our wedding on June 16. He couldn’t stand to miss such a momentous occasion.
Sam will be graduating from Pepperdine College in Los Angeles the next weekend. Seven days later, Sam and I will be standing on the rim of Grand Canyon saying our wedding vows.
Our wedding at Grand Canyon –(Sam’s dad had passed away in March.) As a wedding gift, the manager of the Bright Angel Lodge reserved the Lounge for the fifty Arizona friends and relatives, complete with a cake and its giant picture window views of the Canyon.
After the wedding, we have a week to drive to Palos Heights for a reception with my friends and family who live in the Chicago area. In another week, we will drive to Providence, Rhode Island for Sam to start his career in the U.S. Navy. I will take a train back to Chicago where I’ll spend the summer relaxing and remembering the whirlwind we’ve been through, before I start my first year of teaching second and third grades in Hawthorne, California. (Sam naïvely believed the Naval recruiter that he would be stationed somewhere on the West Coast.) There were no credit cards in those days. Sam and I split the remaining cash($10.00) for my trip to Chicago. Yes, we already had purchased the train ticket.
Here we are in Tucson, Arizona sixty-three years later, celebrating as we can during these difficult times with the coronavirus still looming everywhere.
June 16, 2020
Sam adds: I left my 1947 Plymouth Coupe in Hawthorne for PJ. Our best man, Fred Morgan, lived there and will keep the car for her. I bought a 1957 three-cylinder, two-cycle, front-wheel drive DKW that required the mixing of a pint of oil with each tank of gas. (The DKW carried the symbol which is now the Audi.) Once I graduated, I drove to Clarkdale, Arizona where my mother and her family lived. I drove her to Grand Canyon and we stayed at the Bright Angel Lodge on the 15th of June. PJ and her family were in the auto campground in a cabin.
After the wedding ceremony, PJ and I drove to Flagstaff where we stayed in a motel. We had dinner in the dining room. While we were eating, a friend whom I knew came over to our table with a friendly greeting. I introduced Phyllis as my new wife.
“I didn’t know you were married. When did you get married?”
“Today, at Grand Canyon.”
“Good heavens! What are you doing here?”
“Having steak.”
The next day we drove to Albuquerque New Mexico and spent two days with my cousins. Then we drove to Palos Heights for a second wedding reception with PJ’s family and friends. From there we drove to Niagara Falls and on to the town of Sandwich on Cape Cod. The next day, we drove to Providence, Rhode Island where I said goodbye to Phyllis and put her on the train to Chicago. I drove on to Newport to become an official member of the Navy. It would be six months before we would see each other.
How will we celebrate 63 years of fun and games, love and caring, and all we have accomplished? We will join hands and say a prayer of thanksgiving for the health of our family and the new arrival of baby Olive to Hannah and Robert Blankenship in Fort Worth, Texas. Olive’s birth makes PJ a Great Aunt! We’ll have a new meal from HomeChef, add a scoop of chocolate ice cream and watch the season finale of Sound Land and go to bed by 2200.
We extend our blessings and prayers for your good health, all you loyal readers of Maytag Moments. Stay well!
Sam and Phyllis
06.16.2020: The first Morning Glory blooms in celebration of our anniversary!
Last night’s dinner was steak! Easy to fix. The sauce rub was a little too salty for us. Next time, we won’t use it. PJ has been keeping notes reviewing each dish. July we’ll be on our own for ordering. A good thing about HomeChef is there is little or no waste. If the recipe calls for two tomatoes, there will be two tomatoes in the box.
Pyrrhuloxia in the Jade plant. 33 seconds. Patience, you’ll see this elusive bird.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/7GcbN9tWRAhweTcp7
Previously on MONDAY, June 15. 1200-1600: I typed 2,000 words. Again, without Dragon. I was so excited about the story that I didn’t have time to set it up. I’ll do that tomorrow.
1630: Sharing with PJ, writing about our wedding.