APRIL 5TH

JUST MARRIED, WAYNE AND DODI, 56 YEARS AGO

Where has the time gone. I can't believe it was that long ago. Look back on your own wedding days, how
much do you remember. It is such a busy day and so much going on that details are hard to recall. However
some things you just don't forget,

April 5, 1952, that year it happened to be the day before Palm Sunday. It was cold and snowy in the morning,
changing to rain, early on with the sun shining brightly as we left my family home for Immanuel Evangelical
Lutheran church for a 3 PM wedding.

Was I discouraged by the weather, not at all. I was looking forward to my new life, living in Virginia as an
Army wife. New adventures coming my way. I got up that morning and went and got my hair done. By done
I meant, washing and setting it. I would comb it out later. My friend Bev, from church was the hair stylist
and would be at the wedding and if I had problems with my hair she would help me.

I then went to Sears and decided I should have some new underwear for the occasion. Then home. My
bridesmaids all came over to my house to get dressed and to help me get dressed. The photographer
was there. The guys dressed at their homes and then met at the church. Our church did not have a
room big enough for the dressing part. It was a "bride's room" where the ladies would wait their turn to
walk down the aisle.

I loved my wedding dress. Most of you have seen pictures of it. It was an off-white satin, with lots of
lace and a very long train. My cousin Ruth offered to let me wear her veil, it had an equally long train.
My dress cost $60, which also was the price of Ruth's veil when she was married in 1948. I was in her
wedding at that time.

Our attendants for the wedding. My sister Darlene, as maid of honor, Wayne's brother Clyde as best man.
Yes, he was sober. Emma and Roy, Bev and Andy, Audrey and Art, my cousin Ruth and Gil Schramm.
Dick was in the army and unable to get leave, so Gil took his place, Vi and a good friend Bill Jahrman.
I had known Bill all my life (he gave me my first kiss at age 10, while sledding behind a billboard on
35th and Burleigh) He was dating my sister at that time and they were married about 14 months later.

Immanuel was a very large church, seating about 3000 people, if you include seating in the basement.
A very long aisle to walk down. We had about 500 people attending our wedding. I really loved that
church, all the stained glass windows, the gothic styling, it was home to me. My father had been
baptized, confirmed and he and my mother had married in that church, as well as all his framily. Auntie
Alma, Aunt Clara and Uncle Otto. Pastor Dietz had married my parents and baptized and confirmed
me as well as my sister and brother. I would love to have him marry us, but unfortunately he was very
ill at the time, so we knew that wouldn't happen. Pastor Meyer performed the ceremony. I found out
later that day that Pastor Dietz had died that very day.

Also I had received a phone call (another dang phone call) that morning that Ruth Lawonn had a scratchy
voice and might not be able to sing for our wedding, but she had lined up Wally Schober ( knew him too)
in case she got worse. It wasn't until I hear Ruth sing "because" that I knew who would be there. She
also sang The Lord's prayer. Our organist was also a good friend. Paul Jungkunts, his dad was my
music teacher at Lutheran High School, and Paul Jr was our music director at Immanuel. He is still
good friends with my cousin Ruth.

The attendants wore Aqua gowns with real flower crowns for their hair and carried satin and lace fans
covered with flowers. I had a typical bride's bouquet, with a small replica for throwing. The men work
tuxedos with black pants and gray jackets.

All went well. Following the wedding, the bridal party went to Johannes Studio for formal portraits, which
we never really picked up because we never had the money. Our photographer Alan Parsons (wow,
where did that name come frrom) had done an excellent job and we were pleased with our album and
therefore not feeling any pressure to pickup other pictures.

After that the bridal party and immediate family members went to the Hofbrau house for a sit down dinner.
I really don't remember much about that at all. Especially not what we ate. Then we went to my house
to change shoes and went to the rece ption.

Our reception was at the Pilgrim's Hall on Green Bay Road. It consisted of two large rooms, one for
dancing and one was the bar and where the food was served. We offfered beer and soft drinks and
everyone who wanted anything more went downstairs to the public bar. This as standard practise at
weddings at this time. Our church did not approve of dancing, (I did not agree with our church on that)
so Pastor Meyer was FORCED to stay in the bar all night.

I remember dancing the night away. Dancing with my Dad, (remember he was old school and so dancing
was taboo when he grew up) so I guess we just pretended, but I loved it. The one thing I do remember
and this was tradition with our friends was the "Friendship Circle" Our friends would gather around us
Wayne and I in the middle, and we sang our theme song. Ich bin ein Schweizer boo (I am a swiss boy)
we ended every gathering in a friendship circle, and it made sense to do it at weddings. How blessed
we were to have our family and friends to help us start our new life together

Then more food. Around 11 pm the caterers set up a table with all the sandwich makings, salads, raw
beef and onions you could imagine. My mom's friends had made all the cakes. Guests took their
wedding cake home in little boxes in those days. Oh, I forgot to tell you about our wedding Cake. When
I was 14 I got a job at Omar bakeries, retail stores, and worked for them until I was a senior in high school.
Audrey worked for them too. We had keys to all the stores and combos to all the safes. They really liked
and trusted us. Well about two month before our wedding I ran into my old boss from Omar and told her
I was getting married. Omar bakeries made our wedding cake and gave it to us as a gift.

OK, finally it is our time to leave. We did not have a car, so we arranged for Audrey and Art to leave with us
Audrey and I went to my house and Art and Wayne went to Waynes house to get into street clothes. We
knew we were moving away, so decided to stay in Milwaukee for 4 days before moving to Virginia. We
stayed at the Wisconsin Hotel in downtown Milwaukee.

One side note I forgot to mention, which was kind of funny, Waynes two aunts, Marguerite's sisters, Lillian
and Ruth were at the wedding in formal gowns, which was strange but fine. I had met Lillian before, but
never Ruth, who llived in Illinois. Aunt Ruth came up to hug me and said "I am so glad Wayne married a
Lutheran:" Oh well.

So now we are in the hotel, we kicked off our shoes, filled the radio with quarters, and then-------------------
counted all our money.

On that note, I will close the door and say "goodnight" and next I will continue with our first months together
as Mr and Mrs. Webb

TO BE CONTINUED............................