Today would have been my mother and dad’s sixtieth wedding anniversary. They did not have a long courtship. Their first date was in August of 1955. They went to the Laurel County (KY) Homecoming together. A little over 5 months later on January 29, 1956 they were married. My mother says that the first time she ever saw my dad he was driving a Farmall H tractor. My grandfather had two farms separated by seven miles and according to her he would drive by and throw up his hand.... One day when he drove by, he slowed down, brought the tractor to a stop, turned off the engine, and there perched on the tractor seat asked my mother for a date. That’s the way Mama told the story. Truth be known she flagged him down. Since my dad gave a much different account of their first meeting it is quite possible that my mother’s version was embellished somewhat.
Big, fancy, expensive weddings were not the norm in the culture where they were from. Most people just went to the pastor’s home or perhaps to the church and had a simple flower girl dresses private wedding. There was the pastor, the bride and groom, and two witnesses you had secured to “stand up with you.” My mother and dad had asked my dad’s brother and his girlfriend (who would soon be his wife) to stand up with them. Together they went to the home of a country pastor and farmer whom everyone called “Preacher Kirby”. There on this day fifty-seven years ago, they “tied the knot”.
There have been a lot of anniversaries since then. Some of them were great celebrations. Some were lived through in the midst of the troubles of life. Dad moved on to heaven twenty-nine months ago. Mother is in a nursing home. She has been suffering with Alzheimer’s for over 15 years. She has not known any of us for probably 5 years. But sixty years ago today they stood together before a country preacher who asked each of them this question: “Will you take this woman/man to be your lawfully wedded wife/husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, so long as you both may live”. And they said “I do”.
Following is a poem I wrote for them as an anniversary gift three years ago.