Where Were You Fifty Years Ago?

Not long ago we asked where you were five years ago. Now take it back a little further, to fifty years.

August 1, 1960. 10:00am. I was somewhere, a single man, but getting all dressed up for a date. My desk calendar said simply, "Meet Suzy at St. John's."

From Our Wedding Pictures

Suzy was staying at my parents' house, finishing up makeup, and getting into a fancy white dress.

From Our Wedding Pictures

At 11:00am, I was standing up by the altar at St. John's, staring down the center aisle, the lovely Suzy was in the church's vestibule.

At 11:45am, I was a married man with a wife to support.

From Our Wedding Pictures

Not long thereafter, we were in my parent's backyard, celebrating with a small number of family and friends, doing all the typical things such as trying to dance on a rough brick patio,

From Our Wedding Pictures

posing for photographs,

From Our Wedding Pictures

cutting cake

From Our Wedding Pictures

From Our Wedding Pictures

and GENTLY offering each other a bit of the cake,

From Our Wedding Pictures

From Our Wedding Pictures

drinking champagne. Suzy was grinning like a cheshire cat, and I won't tell you what my grin was like.

Late afternoon we had changed clothes, piled into our 1953 Chevy BelAir (note: now it was OUR, not MY, car!), headed out for a wedding night and a two week honeymoon.

From Our Wedding Pictures

Oh, I gotta tell you why we had only a small number of family and friends at the wedding and the reception.

From Our Wedding Pictures

At the time, I was working as a grocery clerk for Safeway. When I asked the Store Manager (Gil Souza; I'll NEVER forget that name) for Saturday off for my wedding, he refused. I had to get married on Monday!

Off we went to San Francisco, checked into the Sir Francis Drake Hotel (pretty posh place!), then out to a nice dinner at The Shadows, a fine German restaurant with a view of San Francisco Bay.

When we returned to the hotel and went up to our room, the day area seemed small, with a couch, and end table and a couple of chairs. I checked the door opposite the entry: locked. That was the door to the adjoining suite. Something seemed to be missing. Then we realized that the small couch actually pulled out from under the end table to become what passed for a bed.

Before proceeding further, we ordered a room service breakfast for the next morning, as we had travel plans.

Soon it was the all important moment, time to climb into bed for our first night as a married couple. The couch bed turned out to be about two feet short, so that my legs and my feet hung out over the end! Even Suzy was too tall for that bed.

The next morning at 3:00am, we were up and out of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel and well on our way up the California Coast toward Oregon.

And that's how we spent the day -- and the night -- fifty years ago today! Even then we were living ... Our Life on Wheels! [If you are interested in seeing more of these pictures, you can go to our WebAlbum titled Our Wedding Pictures.]  In a few days, as soon as we can recover from a hectic weekend, we'll tell you about our anniversary celebration!