The wedding announcement from my great-grandparents' wedding...
DILLON-MANNING
After Rev. Sullivan had concluded the regular service at the Methodist Church Sunday night and the benediction had been pronounced, Rev. J. R. McKinney stepped into the pulpit and requested the audience to be seated, and made the announcement that another couple were in waiting who wanted to be married. The contracting parties, who had decided to cast their lots together in life, for better or worse, were Mr. George Dillon and Miss Mattie Manning, two of our well known and popular young people. The ceremony was performed in the orthodox manner of the Church of God; Mr. McKinney meeting the bridal party at the door and repeating the service as he led the way to the alter. The pleasing manner in which the service was conducted dispelled the solemnity which usually marks such occasions but the matrimonial knot was effectually and quickly tied, and with an la vocation of divine blessing the ceremony ended. The entire audience immediately besieged the happy pair and extended their heartiest congratulations. The bride was beautifully attired in a dress of white and her countenance radiated the light that shown in her heart; the groom wore conventional black, and his smiling face portrayed the happiness of the acquisition of a joy for life.
And you know, they stayed married until she died right before Pearl Harbor prompting many in the family to say, "Thank God Me-maw wasn't here to see that." (I said the same thing less than 3 months after my own mother died in June of 2001.) I never met Me-maw but I spent a lot of time on Pa-paw's lap. I was only one of 27 great-grandchildren but he always made me feel special I adored him. He had been a blacksmith for years but when the automobile revolution took away his main business of shoeing horses, he didn't bitch, join a union or ask the government to help him...he simply became a carpenter and began his second career as such. What a kind a gentle old man...and what an amazingly strong lap.
After Rev. Sullivan had concluded the regular service at the Methodist Church Sunday night and the benediction had been pronounced, Rev. J. R. McKinney stepped into the pulpit and requested the audience to be seated, and made the announcement that another couple were in waiting who wanted to be married. The contracting parties, who had decided to cast their lots together in life, for better or worse, were Mr. George Dillon and Miss Mattie Manning, two of our well known and popular young people. The ceremony was performed in the orthodox manner of the Church of God; Mr. McKinney meeting the bridal party at the door and repeating the service as he led the way to the alter. The pleasing manner in which the service was conducted dispelled the solemnity which usually marks such occasions but the matrimonial knot was effectually and quickly tied, and with an la vocation of divine blessing the ceremony ended. The entire audience immediately besieged the happy pair and extended their heartiest congratulations. The bride was beautifully attired in a dress of white and her countenance radiated the light that shown in her heart; the groom wore conventional black, and his smiling face portrayed the happiness of the acquisition of a joy for life.
And you know, they stayed married until she died right before Pearl Harbor prompting many in the family to say, "Thank God Me-maw wasn't here to see that." (I said the same thing less than 3 months after my own mother died in June of 2001.) I never met Me-maw but I spent a lot of time on Pa-paw's lap. I was only one of 27 great-grandchildren but he always made me feel special I adored him. He had been a blacksmith for years but when the automobile revolution took away his main business of shoeing horses, he didn't bitch, join a union or ask the government to help him...he simply became a carpenter and began his second career as such. What a kind a gentle old man...and what an amazingly strong lap.
posted by Meg Kelso | 11:42 AM
2 Comments:
" The bride was beautifully attired in a dress of white and her countenance radiated the light that shown in her heart; "
Now THAT is beautiful.
Isn't it? I wish they wrote like that today.
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