To my Grandkids with love,
MARCH, 2008
THE WEDDING--’TIL DEATH DO US PART
l948 /1949--
Let me give you a few facts about what life was like in 1949 as compared to today? I found a little book that served as a reminder as I was thinking of writing about this. As of June 5, 1949 our President was Harry Truman. Ronald Reagans pictures were on the movie houses promoting the movie, "The Girl from Jones Beach" by Warner Bros. Perry Mason was singing, "Some Enchanted Evening". Bread was 14 cents a loaf. It cost 3 cents to mail a letter- 6 cents if sent airmail. A new car cost $1420; a new home was $7,450. Gas was 17cents per gallon etc., etc.
Continuing on From the February Ramblings--
By fall of 1948 at Rockmont College in Denver, CO your grandpa and me were convinced that we wanted to get serious about marriage. The registrar at the college was doing everything she could to help me complete the needed hours to graduate. All involved wanted me to graduate if possible by June 5th of 1949, the planned time for the wedding. In spite of her noble efforts I still received a blank diploma at graduation with an agreement that I would take classes the summer after we were married at the Lamont School of Music-a branch of Denver University.
.jpg)
Graduation from Rockmont College. June 3, 1949
CHRISTMAS, 1948
Christmas break of 1948 was quite an adventure for me. We decided to make a trip to Minnesota where Grandpa Lynn’s home and family were. Leaving Denver in his little ’39 (or was it ‘40?) Ford, we had no problems at all. The big event and one reason for being there was his sister Juanita's wedding. She would become the bride of Sherwood Olson, a farmer from Iowa whom she met at Bethel College. And of course another reason was so I could get to know the Manlove family. Most of the family was there for the wedding so I got to meet most of them. I felt so welcomed and loved and accepted by all even with the main focus on Nita and Sherwood. Maybe it was because they all felt it was time for their 27-year-old brother and son to find the right mate!
In what seemed such a short time, we realized it was time to get back to college and concentrate on finishing out our last semester at Rockmont. I shall always remember the trip back. We had just left Nebraska after staying overnight at my parents, when it began to snow. The farther west we got, the worse it became. It was turning into serious blizzard conditions. Growing up in that country I knew this was not good. There is a lot of nothingness between Nebraska and Denver. It is very plain flatland without many towns along the way. The combination of snow and high winds had the potential of a blinding blizzard.
We had to go very slow--and finally about two hours outside of Denver it got so bad that we could not see the road hardly at all. Creeping along very slowly and praying for a town to show up we suddenly saw the lights of a big eighteen wheeler coming. I think he knew we were in trouble as he blinked his lights so much as to say, “follow me, I’ll take you on in”. And that is what happened! We immediately got behind him and just followed the lights on the back of the truck! What a feeling of relief and gratefulness to our Protector God as we pulled in to the parking lot of the school.
THE WEDDING
Looking back, I now think that my wedding must have been a big deal for our little Nebraska community. as well as for my family. On the farm our home was recently wired for electricity but it hadn’t yet arrived, so my father borrowed a generator from a neighbor just for our company’s comfort.
We were married in my home church, Mt. Zion Methodist Church, a small country church that was only one and one-half miles from our farm. I was sprinkled --(a baby dedication service Methodist style) there. That was only the beginning. I went to most of the church services from the time they carried me, on up through high school. I attended Sunday School, Epworth League (a youth program), Vacation Bible School, and in high school I sang in the church choir. When I was about ten I knelt at the altar of that little western prairie church and made a commitment to Christ receiving His salvation. This commitment was very meaningful and to this day I am grateful for that decision. So I felt it important that I also be married there.
The reason I think it was probably a bigger event to the community than I realized at the time is that of all six living Miller kids I was the only one that was married in our home church. Being a small community most everyone knew the Miller kids.
I recently got out my old wedding album and was amazed at the listing of all the guests who were there. I don’t think there was anyone in the whole area that wasn’t there as well as relatives from near and far. Lois was my maid of honor. Vara Mae was my bridesmaid. Ila and Marilyn (sister to Grandpa Lynn) were my candlelighters. Kathy Holloway, now Murphy was my flower girl.
Grandpa Lynn had his college roommate and very good friend Tom Graham for best man. I can't remember who else stood up with him. Mrs. T, our piano teacher at Rockmont played the piano and the preacher was a friend of the Manlove family as well as ours. -Palmer Rupp.
Naturally, we had lots of music. We sang a song together called “I Love You So”. Our best man sang a couple of songs and Mrs. T played the traditional Wedding March.
There are always these unplanned things that happen at weddings. The two that I remember was the fact that it poured down rain the day before causing us to wonder if we would ever make it to the church. Nebraska gumbo can be bad and at that time the roads to the church were dirt roads. That part did not prove to be as big a problem as we thought it might.
Flower girls generally steal the show at weddings and Kathy was no exception. She wanted no part of it when the time came for her to do her little thing. The story is that she vehemently refused and then proceeded to crawl under the church pew and go fast asleep! It was no doubt her way of saying "this is all a bunch of to do over nothing". Years later she asked us to sing at her wedding to John Murphy.
My dress was beautiful white satin that is still in pretty good shape after being worn by two brides beside myself. A friend from college borrowed it for her wedding and I was very pleased that Rachel wanted to wear it when she and Chris were married. She looked beautiful in it and the white satin was as shiny and pretty as ever. She recently displayed it at her church Valentine Banquet when some were asked to do that. Did I mention that I got it on sale at a high-class department store in Denver for $14?
Your grandpa Lynn got real extravagant and bought a new Navy Blue suit for the occasion. He was truly a handsome groom!
My "going away" outfit was beautiful as well. It would be right in style in 2008. I don't hear that much about the bride dressing up to go on her honeymoon now, but at that time it was nice to leave the wedding reception for the honeymoon with a nice outfit as well. My dress was a powder blue, with navy blue hat and shoes to match.
Our honeymoon could not have been nicer. It was a gift from a distant relative of mine. They owned a cabin near Bailey, CO and let us use it for a week. That was a time of enjoying the Colorado mountains hiking and just having special restful times together.
At the end of that week we went back to Denver for me to finish up my college degree. At this point I was sick of studying and my interest was not in it, so it was not an easy summer, but we struggled through it and ultimately got my signed diploma.
Well, that pretty much sums it up.
Until next time--
Love and God bless you
