Almost Anniversary Breakfast

Today, 50 years ago we were scheduled to be married. The wedding was cancelled because the Groom could not be present.

A Church Wedding in Ashtabula was planned, the Caterer was ready for the Reception, and everybody was looking forward to the Ceremony.

The Groom was in the Navy and Duty Called. His assignment was aboard USS Sturdy, an Ocean Minesweeper where Bob was Engineer Officer.

Precipitating these events was an assassination of President Trujillo of the Dominican Republic. Our government has contingency plans to evacuate US Citizens in case of riots, wars, and natural disasters. In this case, the Atlantic Fleet was sent to take station out of sight of land south of Hispaniola, the island shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and stand by.

The 10th of June 1961, the Wedding Date was a Saturday. Three days before, on Wednesday, Bob called Lois saying, 'I cannot be at the wedding. The ship has been called away. I cannot tell you where we are going because our orders are Secret, and I do not know how long we will be gone. I will call you when I know more.' Lois' Dad was able to determine our destination by reading the newspaper. It was also the last possible day that the Caterer could be cancelled.

The Dominican Crisis abated after about a week and by the 20th our ship was in Puerto Rico en route to Charleston. Bob called Lois saying, 'We will be back in Charleston on Friday.'

On Friday, June 23rd, as the ship docked, Lois was waiting on the pier.

'Take your troubles to the Chaplain' is common advice in the Military, so we visited the Base Chaplain. When he heard our story he asked about a marriage license. 'No, well you can get one at the Courthouse. Its Friday at 4:30 now and the office closes at 5:00 pm. I have friends there and they will stay open for you. South Carolina has a 24 hour waiting period but we can wink at that. Come to my house tomorrow at 2:00 pm and I will marry you.

That is the story of how we were married on June 24th, 1961.

ps: I am deferring a photo of my new camera because of this almost anniversary.