Once again, the attic at the Longenecker house has yielded up its treasures, all flat and light-weight, ensuring I will not lapse into collecting piles of stuff in my own home any time soon. So help me, God!

All these artifacts are dated 1967, a very good year, the year of our wedding.

Thank you Note in which I thank Ruthie and Grandma for

  • Their basketful of goodies, including cookie sheets, mousetraps (mousetraps!), tea towels and a shredder.
  • I mention that Cliff and I are applying for the marriage license, arranging for guest accommodations, waxing my Plymouth Valiant, already blowing purple exhaust, and seeing the preacher.
  • I rejoice over the fact that the church called and asked me to become their full-time secretary until the end of July. (How I managed to hold on to this job is beyond me. I kept breaking the connection on the dial phone when I hastily pressed the wrong button.)

 

My letter to Grandma, dated July 27, 1967, refreshed my memory about some events I had forgotten.

In this letter, I . . . 

  • Mention using church stationery for personal reasons, but noted it is obsolete, so I’m not pilfering. The former pastor, Dr. J. Allen Blair had moved on to radio broadcasting. I suggested that Grandma could hear his broadcast, “Glad Tidings,” on WDAC, a long-time Christian station in Lancaster, PA.
  • Acknowledge gifts from Cliff’s side of the family including the gift of a hand-crocheted pillow-cases with appliques from an aunt and uncle in Oregon.
  • Note that the Beaman family from Washington is already heading east in a camper trailer and will stop off to see oldest son Larry and family in Toronto, Ontario.
  • Remark that pastor doesn’t mind my writing a few notes or making some phone calls during work hours. In fact, he even encourages it. Amazing, now in retrospect – apparently a low-volume office.
  • Refer to the probability that Grandma won’t be able to make the 10-hour trip from Elizabethtown to Charlotte because of sciatic rheumatism, which sounds torturous. A friend tried to explain what it’s like: “She said to be completely understanding if my Grandma can’t come: she hardly knew how to sit or stand or lay for weeks.”

 

In spite of all, Grandma Longenecker did make it to the wedding, the photo proof positive!

Yes, Grandma Fannie M. Longenecker, age 76, did attend our wedding in 1967.
So did my father Ray M. Longenecker, then age 49.

 

She came with Aunt Ruthie, her neighbor Anna Groff and sister Sue Martin (left to right): 3 plain and one fancy, posing in front of house I lived in for one year on Middleton Drive in Charlotte, NC

Grandma Longenecker and Aunt Ruthie were house-guests of Morrow Graham during their stay in Charlotte.

 

The Bill from the House of Flowers!

No orchids or lilies on a teacher’s salary of course – lots of carnations – still, bargain prices in any decade!

Clockwise from left:

3 corsages, attendants’ bouquets, flower girl basket: $ 34.51     Bride’s bouquet, 4 boutonnieres, 2 mothers’ corsages:  $ 35.51     Church decorations:  $ 41.20                  Total: $ 111.22

 

A Final Document

An imprint of the marriage service booklet. As church secretary, I got to type in details on pages following.

Arrow at left points to error on date. We were married on August 5, not August 6, 1967. Evidently the pastor was already thinking about his Sunday morning message.

 

Documented earlier, in case you missed them:

How we Met

A Comparison Shopper Finds a Wife

Another Anniversary

Coming next: Grandma Gets a Keepsake