Now they’re man and wife

So now my parents, Gordon and Geraldine (Martin) Levy, are man and wife.  Let the party begin!



Here’s the happy groom and his groomsmen.  My dad is in the middle toasting with his brother and best man, Robert Levy.  I know the names of the others but I’m not sure who is who.  Those in the picture are:  Keith Miller, Sheldon Lewis, John Hammell, Horace Chandler, Joseph Connolly, Herb Harband, and Bud Richter.  If I had to guess I’d say Joseph Connolly is third from the left and Keith Miller is second from the right.  I’ll have to go through old yearbooks to see if I can identify these fellows.

And here’s the bridal party.




Left to right:  Sandra Dick, Jody Renner, Geraldine Martin Levy, Dona Jean Adams, Patricia O’Farrell.  I was able to find Dona Jean in the Stanford annual pretty quickly but didn’t find Patricia – I’m not sure if O’Farrell was her maiden or married name.  I do know that Jody Renner was married so I’ll need to figure out what her maiden name was.

And I love seeing the receiving line, which is something that doesn’t seem quite as popular these days.



I love how my parents are looking into each other’s eyes – they were so in love!

 

Left to right:  Sandra Dick, Dona Jean Adams, Patricia O’Farrell, Jody Renner, Geraldine (Martin) Levy, Gordon Levy, Sigmund Levy, Loraine (Gunzendorfer) Levy, Clara (Fitzgerald) Hunter.

A few things come to mind as I look at this group.  I always knew my grandfather, Sig Levy, was short but geez, he really was!  My dad was only about 5-9” and my grandmother was only about 5-4” and he is dwarfed by both of them.  I’m guessing he was only about 5’1” which is proof that he is the cause of the “Levy curse”.   I remember reading a letter that Loraine wrote to him as he was training to be a Flying Cadet and she made a comment about him sitting on a pillow while he flew :-)

Although my mother’s step-father, Sheldon Hunter, walked her down the aisle, neither he nor her biological father, Earle Martin, participated in the receiving line.  And where was Robert Levy, my dad’s brother?

Here’s the next pages of the Bride’s Book.




Wow, her father, Earle Martin, isn’t even mentioned.  If I didn’t know better I’d think he wasn’t living at the time.



My mom wrote “Taken on our honeymoon – in front of Montery [sic] Harbor on September 4, 1950. 

I’ve always known they spent their honeymoon in Monterey and Carmel but it wasn’t until today that it hit me – they spent their honeymoon in the city where my grandmother grew up.

My favorite page!

As a young girl, I loved looking through my parents’ wedding albums and tried to imagine what it must have been like.  When I’d get to this page, I always slowed down and took my time – this was my favorite page!



There was just so much to look at and the description was beautiful.  But the one thing that really captivated me was what was hiding inside the yellow paper – the orchid that my mother carried in her bouquet.  And here it is, 63 years later.



It really didn’t look that much different all those years ago and I’m surprised that it’s held up as well as it has considering it was just smashed between two pieces of paper.

Here’s a close up of the two pages.



The Maid of Honor was Mrs. Nick Renner (Jody).  I need to figure out what Jody’s maiden name was and maybe I can connect with some of her descendants.

Best Man was Mr. Robert S. Levy – my dad’s only sibling and since my mother was an only child, the only uncle I ever had.  At some point Uncle Bobo went on to get his PhD so we always knew him as Doctor.

Bridesmaids were Dona Jean Adams and Patricia O’Farrell.  I don’t know anything about either of these women.

Flower Girl was Sandra Dick.  Sandra’s grandmother was Clara McAboy, an older sister to my great grandmother, Mabel McAboy Fitzgerald, and the wedding was held in Sandra’s parents’ home.

Others who helped with serving, etc. were Betty Bell, Norma Burkhart, Ellie Miller, Jan Richter, Lorraine Follett, Pat Davis, Sally Conley, Doris Thurber.  Norma, Lorraine, and Doris were all cousins and Pat was her future sister-in-law.

Ushers and others were:  Keith Miller, Sheldon Lewis, John Hammell, Horace Chandler, Joseph Connolly, Herb Harband, Bud Richter.  I know Keith was a childhood friend and Joe was a college friend and I met both as a child.  I’ve heard the name Bud Richter before but not sure of the relationship.

And this is the page I would really study and spent hours looking at it over the years.

  

It looks like Jan and Bud Richter must have saved a piece of cake for them.  

And then Mom wrote:

Could any story, photographs or description ever describe the beauty of our wedding?  Not for us for the beauty to us is partly in our minds – but mostly in our hearts for it was a day we’ll never forget.

The flowers were all white – bells of white daisies were hung with chains of draped daisies.  The aisle was marked by hurricane lamp with daisies on the stands.  My flowers were baby white orchids and stephanotis & centered with a large white orchid.

My dress was of rose point lace – long sleeves, short train, full skirt over hoops, round neck – with Gordon’s gift to me – pearls.  The fingertip illusion veil was attached to a skull cap of rose point lace & edged with seed pearls.  When we left I wore a navy gabardine suite, white with blue shoes, navy & white hat, white gloves & navy bag – with white orchid corsage.

The setting was beautiful – everything was perfect – truly an occasion we’ll always remember – our wedding day!

These pictures are probably a little out of order but it seems appropriate to put them here since they show some of the things Mom described.

Here’s the girls getting ready.



This is a nice look at the back of her dress and the skull cap with the veil attached.  I’m pretty sure that is Jody Renner helping with her veil and, of course, Sandy Dick is the young girl.  As we cleaned out Mom’s house a few months ago, we pulled out the wedding gown that we always knew was in the hope chest in the garage – it’s actually in pretty decent condition.  We couldn’t bear to part with it so we left it inside the hope chest and it is now home with my sister.

And here’s the flowers she described. 



And, of course, some photos showing the flowers and lamps on the aisle.  Here’s Mom with her step father, Sheldon Hunter.  I see on the guest list later in the book that her father, Earle Martin, attended along with his wife, Verda, their son Michael Martin, and Verda’s two children that Earle adopted, Paul and Pat Martin.  I wonder how he felt watching someone else walk her down the aisle.



She looks so serious – I wonder what she was thinking at that very minute.  I know she was thrilled to be marrying the man of her dreams but you wouldn’t know it by this picture.  Check out the beautiful pearls.  I wonder if we ran across those when cleaned out her jewelry.

And no wedding would be complete without the happy couple walking down the aisle after they were pronounced man and wife!



And since she described her going away outfit, here it is.



Now that I look at that BIG corsage she’s wearing I wonder if that’s the orchid she pressed and saved all these years?  Boy do they look happy – and so stylish, too!

Something Old, Something New

Something old – a white lace hankie that “Gram” had made & Mother carried at her wedding
Something new – most everything
Something borrowed – The hankie and the half-dime in my left shoe
Something blue – the garter

Here is mention of “Gram” again.  While I thought Gram was probably my dad’s grandmother, I’m not so sure now.  I know my mom called her mother-in-law Mother in later years but would she have called her Mother right when she got married?  I need to ponder that for awhile.  I remember carrying a hankie when I was married and Mom told me it was my grandmother’s – which grandmother would that have been?  And the half-dime in my left shoe?  Yep, had that with me, too.  And I think (help me out here, girls) my daughters both carried the hankie and half-dime, too. 

Here’s the hankie we carried.  Doesn’t look too white or lacey but Mom told me this was the one. 



I also have a half-dime, too, but since it’s in the safe deposit box, I can’t post a photo of it here.

And Mom even talks about her trousseau – do brides even worry about that today?



Lovely nighties, slips, panties, robes & other lingerie.  Dresses, shorts, slacks, bathing suits, shoes – everything anyone could want – and Gordon too!

Awwwwwwww.



And now we know who the bridal party was.  Some of these names are familiar to me.

Mrs. Nicholas Renner – this was Jodi (or Joanie) Renner, matron of honor.  I remember asking mom about that earlier this year.

Mrs. Keith Miller – Keith Miller was one of my dad’s best friends growing up in Fresno.  We always had an inside joke about Keith Miller and his lack of expression in his voice.  I’m sure my siblings will remember it.

Mrs. Clarence Follet – Mom’s cousin, Loraine Feuerenstein.  Loraine’s mother, Viola, and my grandmother, Clara Fitzgerald, were sisters.

Mrs. Robert Burkhart – Mom’s cousin, Norma Jean Hoey.  The relationship is a little more complicated but Norma Jean descends from Clara McAboy, sister to my great grandmother, Mabel McAboy. 

Patricia Davis – Future wife of my dad’s brother, Robert Levy. 



So many newspaper articles with more to come.  And the question as to who carried the hankie will be answered!