An Anniversary

Today would have been my parents' 66th wedding anniversary.  Amazing!  Here is their wedding photo.  Their story is unique, but perhaps not so much considering it was war-time.  My mom graduated high school in 1943 and wanted to do something to help the war effort.  All alone, she moved from Eastern Washington to Bremerton, and got a job working graveyard shift at the Navy Yard.  Pretty brave for an 18 year-old country girl. (Of course, she had been working since she was 13, sometimes 2 or 3 jobs, so I guess it was totally in character.)

Her boss was Doris Waggoner, a single mom, who lived with her parents.  Doris befriended my mom and took her home for Sunday dinners and family events.  My grandfather was so impressed with my mom he told her he wanted her to marry one of his sons - and he didn't care which one!

My dad and my uncle were both in the Army - as were most of the young men in 1944. My dad was the first one to come home on leave.  Doris asked him if he wanted to go on a double date, and he said yes.  That was Monday.  Tuesday night, he came into my grandmother's room and told her he had met the woman he was going to marry.  Saturday morning, they took the ferry to Seattle to "meet the parents" and missed the ferry home.  They arrived an hour late to find all their guests waiting at the church.

They met on Monday and married on Saturday.

Once I asked my dad about it, considering that if I had tried such a stunt, I would have been disowned.  My dad said, "Honey, there was a war on.  I didn't have time to go a-courting."

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!