Hello Out There

Hi All,

Just wondering if anyone knows if Rob, Laurie, Wendy, Athena, Nicole, etc. have gotten the info to get on this blog? I was hoping to hear from some of them. Once things settle down a little I am hoping we will use this site more often. The blog my family uses is posted on nearly every day. We have done some fun things from talking about our favorite color and why, to telling stories about when we were growing up. It has brought us all closer together and I am hoping it will do the same with this family.

The following is the story I posted on my families site this week as we were each talking about when we got married. Some of you may not know this story, so thought I would share.

On the afternoon of August 27 1966 Kenny asked one of my brothers (not sure anymore which one) where our parents kept their important papers. He then asked to use Keith's car for the evening as he wanted to take me to San Francisco to see the newly released movie Dr. Zhivago. I dressed reasonably well as I was going to the big city. We headed out that evening for San Francisco but Kenny passed the turn off. I said, "you just missed the turn off". Kenny said, "I know, we aren't going to San Francisco, we are going to Reno to get married". My response was,"oh, OK". What I did not know was that he had retrieved my birth certificate from the box of important papers earlier that day, to prove that I was 18 and old enough to marry without permission. The other thing I did not know was that he had a notarized letter signed by his mother stating that he could marry. At that time the rule was the girl had to be 18 but the man had to be 21. Off we headed for Reno, permission in hand. It was a several hour drive, I believe 4-5 hours back then. We arrived after midnight at a little all night wedding chapel. We were informed that the court house in Reno closed at midnight but they would drive us to the next county to an all night courthouse to get our marriage license. Off we went and returned to the wedding chapel after 1:00 A.M. Now we need two witnesses to sign the certificate so the minister awoke some guy that sleeps there and the very sleepy guy and the ministers wife signed the certificate after the VERY brief ceremony. No flowers, no pictures but we were married at age 18 and 19. We then got back in Keith's car to make the return journey as no one knew where we were. Mom & Dad had been away on vacation so were not aware that I was out all night. We arrived back home around 5:30 A.M. exhausted and headed to bed---to sleep. We were wakened a few hours later with my three brothers in the next room discussing the fact that Kenny & I had been out all night and that he was in the bedroom with me. Soon the door opened and their heads peeked around asking where we had been all night. I showed them my ring and confessed that we had gotten married. I think they were relieved as they felt responsible with our parents being gone. Mom & Dad returned that evening. Kenny & I had gone to San Francisco that night so Mom & Dad learned about the marriage from one of the boys. I could not tell you what they were feeling as they never expressed that to me. Kenny & I didn't have a honeymoon until several weeks later and that is another humorous story but I will save that for another time. LaDonna