Reclaimed Memories

e celebrated our sixty-fifth wedding anniversary a few days early by having all the members of our family together for a big dinner at the Holiday House in Titusville, Florida, Saturday, June 30th. Thirty--three were present, including all our family and Joy's boys and their families. The only missing ones were Robbie and his family in California.

The anniversaries ending in zero or five are reason for special celebration. If Troy and I are still alive and able at our 70th wedding anniversary, we will have a gala affair.

We had not been out of the boundaries of Florida from the time of moving down in August, 1989, until July 18th of '91. On that date Marion, Joy, Beulah and I flew to San Francisco. Beulah and I remained for a wonderful visit with Ruth and her husband, Harry Beebe. Marion and Joy rented a car for a tour of the northwest.

Frank Cook called Beulah two or three times while we were there. Ruth and I teased her just as we did as children. Frank and Gale and Beulah and Buddy had been bosom friends for many years. Buddy had been dead for over a year and a half and Gale had passed away earlier in the year. Ruth and I bet Beulah $10 each that she would get a proposal before the year was up. She said, "Neither of us are interested in getting married again. We just enjoy being together and going out to eat." I think that was probably true at that time, but it did not take long after that period of separation for their feelings to ripen into love. She and Frank confirmed that when they drove over together after their return from Ohio.

Beulah and Frank were married November 12, 1991, in a single ring ceremony. The wedding took place in our home in Sharpes. Florida. Her daughter Jo and Jo's husband Gerald Barstow, stood with them as Troy performed the ceremony. Marion, Howard and Grace were present. Skip had helped decorate the room and the couple were very grateful. Afterward, all but Marion went to the Holiday House in Titusville for dinner. Joy joined the party there.

We returned to Sharpes on the last day of July and Marion took Beulah, Troy and I to Akron on the 2nd day of August. We drove first to Beulah's son, Ted's, summer home on a lake near Mt. Vernon, Ohio.  We visited an hour or so with them and we then went on to Akron, leaving Beulah to visit several weeks with her children and friends in Ohio. She and Frank had already made plans by phone to meet in that area, when he came later to visit his two children.

We visited with Elma and the two of us a continued the reminiscences which I had begun in San Francisco with Beulah and Ruth.

After our stay in Akron we went to Virginia for a few days to see our former home and for short visits with friends. We were happy to see that the Doves were really enjoying the house. They had beautiful furniture in the living room and had added valances to the vertical blinds, which added much to the decor.


Lyn Tutwiler insisted that the three of us stay with her. We enjoyed being with her again but there really was not enough time to visit as we used to do. We probably will not make the trip again.

The Brady Trilogy  I  Reclaimed Memories - (1991)  I  Pop Troy's Anthology - ( 1992)  I  Kinfolk - (1994)