An April Elopement In 1946

An April Elopement In 1946

It seems appropriate that yesterday I was able to finally locate an official record of my parents' marriage.  April 4th was the day they were married back in 1946.  It was a Thursday.  I knew they had eloped, after the initial stages of a planned wedding that had gotten to be too complicated for their tastes.  And, I had heard that they married in Indiana but I didn't know the location of their Indiana marriage.  The document, found on Familysearch.com, gave me the details.

The marriage license shows that they applied for the license on April 4th and were married that same day by Lawrence C. Rush, Justice of the Peace and witnessed by William H. Vissing, the county clerk of Clark County, Indiana, Circuit Court.  Clark County is just across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky, where my parents lived.

My Dad was 21 years old and my mother 19 when they married.  They had met as students  at Anchorage High School and were friends before Dad enlisted in the Army Air Corp in October of 1942.  They spent the war years in correspondence, first as friends.  Dad had a girlfriend, Libby, when he left for the Army, but apparently their relationship did not stand the test of separation.  As the war progressed, and he bounced around the South Pacific, Dad grew more desperate for home and a normal young adulthood.  His letters to my mother became more serious.  Meanwhile, my mother finished high school, started college at U of L, joined a sorority, and had a number of beaus.  But somehow their connection grew through those letters.  I imagine that my Mom was especially hesitant to see him when he returned at the end of the war, in late 1945.  His letters had begun to hint at a life they could have together but they hadn't seen each other for three years.  It seems that their bond, as evident in the many letters, really was strong, and love must have bloomed when they reconnected.  Soon they began to plan a wedding.  I'm not sure about the details of the elopement but I've heard that there was pressure from both families for something more elaborate than my parents wanted, and perhaps more than anyone could really afford.  Apparently various relatives also chimed in their opinions on what dates would be good and what months were unlucky for weddings.  Someone once told me that the bridesmaid dresses had already been ordered and had to be returned after the elopement.  

What I do know is that on April 4th, 1946 they drove across the Ohio River and married at the courthouse in Clark County, Indiana.  For most of her life my grandmother kept the telegram that Mom sent her that day (explaining that they had eloped) in her bedroom dresser drawer.  The anger and disappointment about the elopement ran that deep!  When my grandmother was close to 90 years old and preparing to move into senior housing, she removed the telegram from the drawer, tore it up, and threw it in the trash.  She was finally ready to rid herself of the burden of unforgivingness.  Unfortunately, by then both my parents had been dead for many years.  Sometimes forgiveness can be too long in coming.

Mom and Dad had five children.  I'm the youngest.  They were married for 35 years before they died, two months apart, in 1982.  I can't say that their marriage was easy.  They were young and five children was a lot to manage.  My Dad often struggled keeping his remodeling business alive.  Sometimes they fought and Mom would get mad and go for a drive in the car just to get out of the house.  But, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that they were completely devoted to each other, despite any hurdles they were required to navigate, including illness and death.

T
oday I want to focus not on the short number of their years together, but on the strength of their love and just seeing their signatures on that marriage license, gives me chills-- the happy excited kind.  How full of hope and excitement that day must have been for them!!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!!