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The Slice: Cold month connects warm hearts
The Slice asked if December weddings lead to long marriages.
Davenport’s Karen Cole knows something about that. She and husband Everett celebrate their 50th anniversary today.
“It being Pearl Harbor Day, there was no chance he would forget our anniversary,” she said.
Karen and Everett met at a summer dance in Wilbur, Wash., her hometown.
A couple of years later, when it came time to pick a wedding date, they opted to schedule the ceremony between elk hunting and calving season. They hoped Dec. 7, a Saturday in 1963, would be far enough in advance of Christmas to not become part of the holiday blur.
Karen remembers that her mother thought the timing was crazy. But all’s well that ends well.
Then there was this from Anita Reynolds.
“My husband and I were married 22 years ago in December, on Friday the 13th. It’s Friday the 13th again this year, in 2013, so to celebrate double 13s we plan on going to the 1313 Club in Wallace, Idaho.”
Phyllis Rollins got married on Dec. 30, 1955. “I was 16 and my husband, Elmer, was 24. All the busybodies said it wouldn’t last.”
The busybodies were wrong.
Steve Wilder wrote, “I don’t have a large statistical sample, just my parents. But they will celebrate 68 years together on the 22nd.”
Bill Kaufman got married on Dec. 13, 1958. His wife died one month before their 50th anniversary.
And Bill Reuter told about his parents, C.A. and Emma, getting married on Dec. 26, 1936.
C.A. was living in Cheney and Emma was teaching school in LaCrosse, Wash. So the couple went to Davenport to get married, hoping that getting hitched in a different county would keep the news from circulating in LaCrosse and allow Emma to keep her job for the time being. (Married women could not teach back in those days.)
Her boss found out but said nothing and allowed her to finish the school year.
“My parents were married for 56 years before dad passed away in 1993,” said Reuter.
Today’s Slice question: In a typical day, how many times do you find yourself thanking someone?