SPIRIT AT A WEDDING
My husband Larry was born in 1939. The day after Pearl Harbor, his father and two brothers went with their neighbors, the Sullivan Brothers, to sign up with the Navy. His mother worked in the Waverly canning factory to support the family.
When his father came back from the war they were very poor and built a small house, as they could pay for it. That winter they had a tarp as a front door. There had never been enough money to buy a wedding ring. After a few years they saved enough to buy a wedding ring with a tiny solitaire diamond. His mother was so very proud of it, and of her family.
In 1956, Larry was 16 and his family went for a Sunday afternoon drive. His mother was killed in the car, hit by a drunk driver. The ring was put away.
We joined the church when I was 4. I went to kindergarten in the creepy basement of the old church. I always felt loved here.
I saw my grandmother’s friends pass away, and then my mother’s friends’ funerals at the church. Now, I am the last generation, and I still feel the love.
When I was married, it was with his mother’s ring. I wore it 25 years until the shank wore off, and then I took the tiny diamond and had it set to wear on a necklace.
My children were all baptized here, and my daughter was married in 1963 by Bob Roof, by the same baptismal font. She wore her grandmother’s ring around her neck.
It was a dull, windy summer day when the ceremony started at 5:00. It was a lovely ceremony, and when the bride and groom turned around to be introduced to the guests, a lone ray of sun shone through our lovely stained glass and fixed on the tiny diamond. It lit up with a large glow.
I felt the presence of God beside her grandmother’s spirit, blessing the union.
The necklace has been worn by 6 other granddaughters and now their daughters, the last one last summer. We have all been blessed.
Bible verse: Psalms 63: verses 2 and 3
“To see the power and thy glory, so as I have seen in the in the sanctuary”
