CHAPTER 29 - FIFTIETH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
From Richard's memoirs, recovered from his original WordPerfect files
Unbeknown to either DeVonne or me, Kandy had been planning for our fiftieth wedding anniversary for two years in advance. I always enjoy any gala affair and anything our children might have done would have been okay with me. However, DeVonne had, she thought, made it quite clear to Kandy that we didn't want anything special for our anniversary.
Kandy went right ahead, with some assistance from her brother, Dicky, and made elaborate plans to celebrate our day. First she got Dicky to take our Christmas Card List from my computer without my knowledge so she could figure out who she would invite. The list was not all encompassing and a few of our friends were left off the list. Ken & Carla Sansom, Gerry & Madeline Robinson and La Vaughn Call should have been invited.
Kandy designed the announcement and invitations which included a picture of DeVonne and me in our early married years (1943) and a current one taken in 1986. She also included the names of our children, our grandchildren and our great grandchildren. Then she asked Judie to decorate it as only an artist like Judie could. It turned out beautifully.
Kandy wrote letters to all she invited and asked them to write a brief note or letter telling of things they remembered about us. She also wrote to DeVonne's sisters, and to my sister and sister-in-law, Dura, asking for their support and help in how to spend the occasion, what to include, and more names of friends of ours.
She arranged to have our Church cultural hall available for the celebration on the exact date of our anniversary that fortunately was a Saturday and more people could attend. The big problem was to keep everything a secret from us and to get us to the Church at the appropriate time without letting the cat out of the bag.
We had been invited by Dicky and Judie to go out to lunch on our anniversary, with Kandy and Rod, and DeVonne's sisters and their husbands to celebrate the occasion. We had finally agreed to go around 2:00 PM on our anniversary day. That sounded reasonable to us. Meanwhile, Dicky arranged with our Stake President, O. Don Hawkins, to have the Stake Executive Secretary call us (Thursday evening) to arrange an interview on the following Sunday. This, of course, upset DeVonne as she thought it might be a new calling in the Church. Thus, we were set to meet the President Sunday.
Dicky called us a few minutes before 2:00 PM Saturday to tell us he was running a little late and he would pick us up around 2:30 PM. About 5 or 10 minutes later President Hawkins phoned to say that he would be out of town Sunday and he would like to see us that afternoon. I told him we were waiting for our son to pick us up at 2:30 PM to go to lunch but he said if we could come over to the Church right away he could interview us and we could be home in time to meet Dicky. So we left for the Church and met him at the door.
We were to use Bishop Blonquist's office for the interview but the President said he would take us through the Cultural Hall to an office on the other side of the building for our interview instead. He opened the door to the Cultural Hall, which was darkened, and as we walked in the lights came on and everyone there shouted “Happy Anniversary!”
The first persons we noticed were my sister, Betty, and my sister-in-law, Dura; and DeVonne's sister, Shirlie. Bette had written to me earlier telling us not to come up in May to visit her as we had planned to do. (She saw no reason for it since she would see us at the celebration.) Dura had flown out from Midland, Texas to San Francisco and she and Bette drove down to Westlake Village for the occasion. They stayed at the Westlake Inn because Reggie and Sonya were staying with us at the time.
Kandy had made all the arrangements and plans for the party but at the last week she called on Judie and her girls, Corinne and Sissy to decorate the hall and provide display setups, flowers etc. Everyone had pitched in and the hall was decorated beautifully. They spent many hours making gorgeous tissue flower arrangements. They had arranged a display of several pictures of DeVonne and me and our children throughout our life together. Kandy had provided a beautiful wedding cake and a festive buffet. There were many round tables with white cloths and fresh flowers on each. It was very well planned and carried out.
While a live band entertained us, we stood in a reception line and greeted everyone there. Among those present were:
Kandy and Roger Zierenberg and ten of their eleven children including, Jason, Kathrine, Trevor, Heidi, Ginger, Amber, Summer, Brandi, Wendy and Derek. Rod was on his mission in the Dominican Republic. Dicky and Judie Clarke and six of their seven children, including Corinne, Sissy, Rusty, Kourt, Erinn and Samantha. Adam was on his mission in Ireland. Both Adam and Rod sent letters for our anniversary book that were greatly appreciated. Reggie and his daughter, Sonya who had just returned from Guam were present, but Liz and children Natasha and Jeff stayed in Guam to finish school and arrange for shipping their belongings back to the States. My sister, Bette, from Novato, California and my sister-in-law, Dura, from Midland, Texas.
Corinne and her husband, Kenneth Miller and our great grandchildren: Kamrine and Kenny. Sissy and her husband, Jeffrey Huffman and our great grandchildren: Jessica and Buckley.
DeVonne's Sisters and their husbands, including Shirlie and Lloyd Jones from Colton with their daughter Susan from Costa Mesa and her boyfriend. June and Jim Beal from Banning; Pauline and Spencer Hatch from Huntington Beach; Pauline's son, Marc and his wife, Takako, from Long Beach and their two children, Joseph & Jennifer; Pauline's daughter, Mila, who flew down from Salt Lake City especially for the celebration; Pauline's son, Paul and his wife, Anamaria, from Monterey, California and their son, Raymond, and Anamaria's mother, sister Gonzales; Pauline and Spencer's sons Randy and Jimmy. DeVonne's cousin, Leland McPhie, from San Diego.
From Camarillo, Ca: Lyman & Nicki Speakman. From Colton, Ca: Dorothy Hubbs and her sisters, Carol Underwood & Barbara Graham, and Elaine Mckee. From Mareno Valley, Ca: Stan & Mary Anna Rotz.
From Moorpark, Ca: Jared & Terry Zierenberg and their four daughters, including, Katie, Trisha, Sara and Ashley. From Newbury Park, Ca: President Don & Valerie Hawkins, Virgil & Lydia Wilde and Bill & Audrey Gertsch. From San Fernando, Ca: Clark & Eleanor Spendlove, Midge Johnson.
From Sepulveda, Ca: Roger & Juanita Zierenberg, Lee & Audre Openshaw and Dee & LaPreal Larsen. From Sylmar, Ca: Evie Klein. From Thousand Oaks, Ca: Don & Shirlie Brown and daughter, Shirlie Ann and Darryl & Jackie Bergstrom. From Van Nuys, Ca: Richard & Beth Johnston.
From Westlake Village, Ca: Bishop Richard & Norma Smith, Kenneth & Dawn Craig, Bill & Bonnie Haygood, Wayne & Marilyn Holmberg, Emmett (Cy) & Marge Davis, Ralph & Bonnie Rampton, Jim Milner, Anne Colvin, Stewart Burton, Florence North, Cloyd Rotz, Helen Rollo, Lucille Harris and Waiverley Azzoni.
Our good friends, and tennis buddies, Willard & Nadine Tate from Oak Park, Ca., were attending their daughter's wedding at the Los Angeles Temple - being married on our Anniversary and having their reception the same day - so they were unable to attend.
After the reception line Dicky proceeded to take charge and gave a brief history of our lives since our courtship days to the present. Then Kandy presented us with a beautiful album with all the notes written by those who did or did not attend. Later the album was filled with pictures taken during the celebration.
In addition the album listed several memories of the year 1938, including the following:
Musical Memories: Heart & Soul, I'll Be Seeing You, My Heart Belongs to Daddy, Two Sleepy People, September Song,
Best Movie: You Can't Take It With You.
Best Actor: Spencer Tracy
Best Actress: Bette Davis
Radio: Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy Show
Book: Our Town by Thornton Wilder
World Series: NY Yankees beat Chicago Cubs
President: Franklin Roosevelt
Vice Pres: John Nance GarnerCosts:
3 Bedroom Home - $3,900.00
Average Income - 1,996.00
New Ford - 660.00
1 Gal Gasoline - .20
1 lb Bread - .09
1 Gal Milk - .50
1 lb Bacon - .37Those were the days:
Orson Wells broadcast of War of the Worlds. Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland starred in Love Finds Andy Hardy. Bennie Goodman played at Carnegie Hall. Kate Smith sang Irvine Berlin's “God Bless America” on Armistice Day. Bugs Bunny began: “Eh What's Up, Doc?” Don Budge (Stanford) won the Tennis Grand Slam.
Following Kandy's presentation of the album the live band played dance music that DeVonne and I started off to the Anniversary Waltz. Then others joined us on the floor. The band, for the most part played modern music, but we could hardly expect to have Glenn Miller or Bennie Goodman.
DeVonne and I cut the delicious tiered anniversary cake and served each other a piece and everyone lined up to partake of the lavish buffet goodies. The rest of the afternoon was spent visiting with one another.
Spencer Hatch, Jared Zierenberg and Roger Zierenberg each took VCR Movies of the celebration. Spence's was the best but they were all good. We have a copy of each of them. In addition there were pictures taken of everyone there, and with family shots of Dicky's family, Kandy's family and DeVonne and me with all our family, including our great grandchildren. These all went into the album.
It was truly one of the most successful and outstanding events of our lives and we sincerely appreciate all the work and planning that went into it. Kandy, planned the entire project. Judie, Corinne and Sissy were responsible for the lavish decorations, fresh flowers and displays with the help of our older granddaughters. Dicky, as Master of Ceremonies, carried off his part well and all our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren each displayed themselves in a most gracious manner and we were very proud of them.