Small Plates of Gramma Rosi #16

Small Plates of Grandma Rosi     Chapter #16    August 19, 2012  Wedding Bells

Dear family,

Dad and I are doing fine.  I am his slave and last night he told me he was grateful.  (That is all I need.)  He is back to his week day travels…mostly up to the mountains (lookout, he has 4 wheel drive) or out to the lake.  He likes to spend time just sitting and looking at the world.  We do have a beautiful world.  I get my “world” time as I walk each morning.  It is sweet.

The temple in Brigham City is almost complete.  The open house period begins very soon and runs until mid-September.  I would love to go.  Meet me there, okay?   It is a gorgeous building and very compelling.  So much so that each time we travel to Cache Valley I drive around it just to gawk.  It is incredibly white.  It seems to shimmer.  It is also very tall and imposing.  It sits just west of the old tabernacle and stands like two pillars casting a shadow to the east. 

Well, now to finish the account of Dad’s and my wedding.         August 25, 1967

Our wedding day began very early.  I believe I got up about 4:00 a.m.   We were married in the Salt Lake Temple because the Logan Temple was closed for cleaning.  Waking so early, seemed to put me in a daze all day.  I suppose that we arrived at the temple about 7 or 8 a.m. (The trip from Logan to Salt Lake took about 2 hours.)  In those days, you did the whole temple thing in one day.  (If I’d had one wish that day, it would be that I had been partially prepared for that temple experience.  Believe me, I was “green” and had no idea what to expect.)  Although I was nervous and sometimes uncomfortable, the sealing ceremony was very special.  One of the 12 Apostles married us.  His name was Delbert Stapley and was a distant cousin on the Isgreen side of the family.  (Lorraine use to call him “Uncle Del”.)

Lorraine, Woody and others who did not go through the temple with us waited outside.  It was probably 2:00 pm before we got out and they were hungry.  Lorraine was in bad temper and before the day was out she and Arlynn had an argument.  (I imagine that most wedding days have some problem moments and this was ours.)  After the wedding breakfast we made the two hour return to Paradise where we rested for a short time and then prepared for the evening. 

Pictures came first and there were plenty of them.  (See attachments for a couple.)

We had a beautiful reception.  The catering company provided a wonderful buffet of  color and appetite appeal.  We had rented a back screen to stand in front of and our reception “line” was very attractive.  (Arlynn helped me choose colors white, peach and brown.)  I believe there were five bridesmaids and a best man plus the parents and children who stood in line.  (Kathy Fueston was just about 3 years old.  A bad, old cat had bit her arm and it was all swollen with infection.  She was so miserable, but she stood there all night helping hand out “thank you scrolls”.   Johnny Olsen was also in line…a handsome little boy.  There was no air conditioning in the church and August was miserably hot.  The Arlynn and Lorraine battle continued because Lorraine insisted on putting a fan behind the screen where she was standing.  It was noisy and it blew the fabric away from the screen.   Arlynn had worked so hard to make everything lovely that she was really annoyed.  If you look carefully at the wedding pictures you will see this annoyance in both of their faces. 

Friends came from Reno and presented a musical program.  The reception was so long.  Bill and I were both exhausted beyond belief.   We finally escaped and drove over to Brigham City where we spent our first night at the Red Baron.

We had a flat tire the next morning which was repaired in Brigham.  Then we drove to Carson City and spent the night.  We attended church the next day in Carson and Bill introduced me as his new wife.  “This is Rosemary Olsen.”  He left off the Mathews part and the audience laughed. We left early Monday morning for San Francisco where we had our honeymoon.  We stayed at a famous old hotel there…  the Fielding Hotel.

Dad’s reflections:

+ He went into the marriage with no nieces or nephews and after the marriage he had 19.

+While in San Francisco we went to a Giant’s baseball game at Candlestick Park.  It was so fun.  On the way home Dad was confused about which way to turn when we stopped at a red light.  He stopped, then remembered which way to turn and with out waiting for the light to change to green he pulled out and made the turn.  The policeman who gave him the ticket only laughed at his explanation.

+Dad took me to a nice restaurant at Fisherman’s Wharf.  (please remember the only fish I had eaten in my early life were tuna and shrimp.)  He was anxious that I have a really good seafood dinner.  He ordered for me.  When the waiter arrived he placed a wonderful swordfish fillet in front of Bill.  I thought “hummm, that looks pretty good.”  Then he placed this mess of rice and lobster in front of me.  It looked a little bit like vomit and I said to Bill “how could you do this to me?”.  (It was lobster newburg and I have since grown to love it.)

  

Well, that pretty much summarizes the wedding period of our life.  I am sure that tomorrow I will remember something else, but for now I will let it rest.

I will close today with one final story.  Dixie tells me this story and it is important to me because it reflects the love which my father, Lloyd, had for me.  Arlynn reported to Dixie that one day soon after the wedding, she saw Daddy climb the stairs, go into my bedroom and look in deep thought at my wedding dress that was hanging on the back of the bedroom door.  I am sure that he was thinking that his little girl had just completed a big decision in her life, that she was gone from his home and things would never be the same.  Sometimes Dad and I feel this way about you guys.  You are gone from our home and we miss you terribly.  However, I am sure that Lloyd would agree with us, you may be gone from our home but you are never gone from our hearts.  We love you full heartedly.

Mom