This past weekend, we went back to NE to celebrate 65 years of marriage for my grandparents. Unfortunately, I didn't take one single picture! How lame.
But, I do have some sweet stories to tell that my grandma told me this weekend. She and my grandpa courted for 7 years beginning at age 15. They married at age 22 and she doesn't remember him actually proposing. They just knew. Two days before their wedding, grandpa found a house for them to rent. When he asked the landlord how much he wanted for rent, the guy scratched his head and said, "How does $25/month sound? If that's too steep we can negotiate." Isn't that crazy?
Grandma was the first of three girls to get married and said her parents spent a lot on the wedding. Her mother wanted a fairytale wedding. And one can tell from their wedding pictures that it was quite fancy for that time period back in 1944.
For their honeymoon - they spent the first night in Grand Island, NE after wedding in Lexington. They then went on to Omaha for 4-5 days. They had to save gas coupons to make it to Omaha because gas was being rationed at the time due to the war. Omaha was the farthest they could travel and afford.
Grandpa was drafted into the war 6 months after they got married and gone for a year and a half. During that time, Grandma spent one week with her parents, another week with her in-laws. And back and forth for 18 months.
Three years later they had their first child, Doug and then another child every 5 years after until number 4 came along. I guess Lisa was too much! Or they decided to end on a good note!
They are such sweet people and I'm honored to have them as my grandparents. What a story they share and they've seen so much over the last 80+ years.
They are an inspiration and blessing! Caralee said they told her they were going to go for 70 years - WOW!
ReplyDeleteOh - and I like to think they ended with #4 on a good note!! :-)