Today's blog post (71 years to the day) is the story of Randy's parents wedding day told through their marriage certificate, photos, newspaper clipping and Merle's diary entry.
Saturday October 6th - My Wedding Day!
Got dressed in time for train. Mar came home. Toadie did my hair. Mom, Dad, Phyll, Len, Auntie, Viney, Grandpa and Mrs. Gemmil & I went to Virden on 10 train. Ed, Ida, Max met train. Len got hotel room. Scurried until 1:00 Ed left for church I left afterward. Married at 1:00 Sat Oct 6th in St. Mary's Church by Rev Cummings. Ida & Max stood up with us. Mrs. Boulton was there too. It took 15 minutes to get married. Ed was very nervous but I wasn't. Showered us with confetti at church & took pictures. Went to Balmoral for reception. Ida brought small wedding cake. Showered with confetti again. Went to hotel room and drank a toast to the bride and groom. Edna and Ewen in for wedding. Went to station. They filled our grips with confetti & us too. Got on train & Dad & Len & Max threw more confetti. Reached Brandon about 4:30. Got Room 7 in Brandon Hotel. Signed register Mr. & Mrs. E.B. Boulton. Went to Vi's for supper...
St Mary's Anglican Church in Virden looks much the same 71 years later. The building began construction in 1892 with stones from the Assiniboine Valley and the arched walkway remains much like in the wedding picture. This website of buildings in Virden says the Balmoral Hotel in Virden was on the corner of 7th and Wellington, where Martin's Drug Store is now. It burned down sometime in the 60's.
Merle and Eddie were welcomed to the Kinloss community and to each other's families with gatherings, receptions and showers in the days that followed. The gifts received were recorded in her diary and many of them were found packed away in her cedar chest, still brand new. Her sisters tell me that she was likely saving them to use in their own home someday, a day that sadly never came to be.
Wedding guests in this photo left to right - Max White, Elsie Boulton, Merle and Eddie, Ida (Bigney) White, Viney Reeves (Merle's cousin), Russell and Agnes Cassell, Gertie Turner (Merle's Aunt, sister to Russell), Edna (sister to Eddie) and Ewen Pearn.
Cards to congratulate them on their wedding and the fourteen anniversaries they celebrated were carefully tucked away in a leather-bound scrapbook.
I am so glad the things remain to tell the story of this happy day - October 6, 1945.
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