Our Wedding Day from my Mom's Life Story...

Finally got he photo of us by our painted "Just Married" car as we were leaving the wedding luncheon. And, yes, here were a string of cans clanking out of the back of the car as we drove off. It's such a giddy, happy time to finally be married for real! The happiness of that day still permeats my soul.

Here's a description of our wedding and wedding luncheon from my Mom's Life Story.

I can't get the photo scanned and to my laptop of us standing by our car painted with "Just Married" after the wedding luncheon.

For our wedding luncheon, Aunt Tess served exotic fruits like fresh pineapple.

This is the first time I had ever had fresh pineapple. It was so delicious that we've tried to have it for many Sunday dinners since then.

I am going to quote from my Mom's Life Story "Verna -- an Idaho Girl" of what she wrote about our wedding, and then the wedding luncheon at Walt's Aunt Tess & Uncle Austin's home:

"June 14, 1961
Arnold and I are Sealed in the
Salt Lake Temple on the same day as
Eileen and Walt’s Wedding

"Eileen’s wedding was really nice. It was not only a special time for her but also for us. Arnold had talked to Bishop Verl Dixon several weeks before and the Bishop had him take the temple lessons so that we were ready to go to the temple with Eileen and Walt, receive our endowments, and get sealed as a family.

"President Henry D. Moyle, Second Counselor in The First Presidency, performed the wedding. Walt had traveled with him as his interpreter in Uruguay and Paraguay when Elder Moyle, then an Apostle had toured their mission in 1956.

"President Moyle explained that everything had to be done in the right order. First he sealed Arnold and me as husband and wife.

"Then Janice, who had just turned 12 the week before, was called into the room so she and Eileen could kneel at the altar with us as we were sealed as an eternal family.

"Following this, he had Eileen and Walt kneel at the altar to be sealed as husband and wife.

"When he finished the ceremony and asked them to kiss as husband and wife across the altar, Walt leaned over and gave Eileen a little peck on the lips.

“ 'Now, Walter, you take your new bride in your arms and give her a kiss like you mean it,' was President Moyle’s comment. Walt quickly complied.

"Walt told us later that he was nervous with someone from the First Presidency there and he didn’t want to seem over zealous. 'I was glad for an opportunity to express how I really felt about Eileen in that second kiss,' he added.

"We had taken Mother and Dad [Dave & Ella Huffaker] with us. Dad was Arnold’s escort, Mother was mine, and Walt’s mother, Jane, was Eileen’s escort.

"My brother Don came over from Vernal and drove with us to the wedding luncheon. From the temple we drove to the Hill Air Force Base in Ogden where my girlhood friend and Walt’s aunt, Tess Prescott Julian--a gourmet cook--had prepared an elaborate and delicious wedding luncheon for everyone. She had married Austin Julian when she was a WAVE in World War II, stationed in Hawaii. Austin was a bomber pilot and they were good friends with Chuck Yeager.

"Janice said the luncheon was like a grand banquet. She had never been to anything like it. Tess served fresh pineapple in the shell with exotic fruits, along with chicken and other side dishes. Bird of Paradise flowers were flown in from Hawaii for decoration.

"From there Walt and Eileen drove off for a 2-day Salt Lake honeymoon with a tail of tin cans clanking behind their painted-up “Just Married” ‘57 blue Plymouth."

"A Bride's Prayer"

June 14, 1961

A Bride’s Prayer
O, Father, my heart is filled with a happiness so wonderful that I am almost afraid. This is my wedding day, and I pray Thee that the beautiful joy of this day may never grow dim with years of regret for the new step I am about to take. Rather, may its memories become more sweet and tender with each passing anniversary.

Thou hast sent to me one who seems all-worthy of my deepest regard. May I prove indeed a helpmeet, a sweetheart, a friend, a steadfast guiding star among all the temptations that beset the impulsive hearts of men. Grant unto me the power to keep him ever true and loving as now.

Give me the skill to make home the best-loved place of all. Help me to make its glow shine further than any glare that would dim its radiance. Let me, I pray Thee, meet the little misunderstandings and cares of my new life bravely. Be with me as I start on my mission of womanhood, and keep my path from failure. Walk Thou with us, even to the end of our journey.

Father, bless my wedding day, hallow my marriage night, sanctify my motherhood—if Thou seest fit to grant me that privilege. And when all my youthful charms are faded, and the cares and lessons of life have left their touches, let physical fascination give way to the greater charm of blessed companionship. So may we walk hand in hand down the highway lighted by the sunshine that comes from living righteously, for time and for all E T E R N I T Y.

--Author unknown; one of Eileen Albertson's
handouts from her Marriage Class, BYU,
Winter semester, 1961

FROM JUNE 14, 1961 TO ETERNITY...

Walt Petersen and Eileen Albertson are married for time and for all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple on June 14, 196 1. The flags were out all over the city that day, as they have been for every anniversary since then.

(Yes, it's Flag Day...but we still consider the flags out for our anniversary. Silly us.)

"So in love, so in love, so in love with you am I!"

All I knew, when I came out of that temple for the first time, I wanted to be married to "Mr. Right, in the Right Place, at the Right Time -- AND I WAS!!!

I was now "Mrs. Walter R. Petersen" and I was estatic!

I can remember as though it were yesterday--as my Mom, Dad, and I crossed the street from our hotel to Temple Square--what joy seeing Walt walking toward me as he and his parents had just arrived.

We all entered the majestic Salt Lake Temple together--I, and my Mom and Dad for the first time.

Walt's mother Jane was my escort. My Mom's mother, Ella Huffaker, was her escort. I guess my Mom's Dad, S. David Huffaker, was my Daddy's escort (everything was so new and different to me, I wasn't aware of a lot of things). I had never heard any information about the temple in my home since my Mom and Dad had not received their endowments yet, either.

Our witnesses were Walt's Dad, Ray Petersen, and my Dad, Arnold Albertson.

BACKGROUND ABOUT WHO PERFORMED OUR TEMPLE WEDDING AND WHY:

When Walt was a counselor in his mission presidency in Uruguay/Paraguay (now known as "Assistant to the President"), Elder Henry D. Moyle, then an Apostle, toured his mission in 1956.

At that very same time, the mission president's wife had passed away and President Frank Perry had flown to Seattle to take her remains to be buried in their hometown.

Walt was asked to accompany Elder Moyle on the mission tour to Paraguay, where they met with the President of the Country,

Afredo Stroessner (president/dictator 1954-deposed in 1989), and was Elder Moyle's intrepreter there and throughout the time in Paraguay in zone conferences with the missionaries. They became good friends.

So that's why Walt asked President Henry D. Moyle, then the Second Counselor in the First Presidency, to perform our marriage ordinance.

[President Moyle became the First Counselor in October 1961. He passed away in September 1963.]

Next week...The Bride's Prayer

Then our wedding reception - Saturday, June 17, 1966, in Gooding...

Then the week after that...Honeymooning on way to St. Louis via Yellowstone Park...

Trauma getting a marriage license...

Tried to put the heart at the end of this post, after I typed the post, but I can't figure out how to do it. Anyone have a solution?

Sorry, I don't have photos from this traumatic day before our wedding.

JUNE 1961

My folks drove to Provo in early June and packed up my things from the apartment for my BYU years and we headed home to Gooding, Idaho.

Walt got home to Wendell, Idaho, about 2 or 3 days before our wedding.

June 13, bright and early, the day before our wedding, we drove to Salt Lake City to get to the City Hall in plenty of time to get our marriage license.

I had the Utah certified form with my blood test officially recorded--a requirement in those days--which I presented at the marriage license bureau when we arrived.

When Walt presented the scribbled scrap of paper of his blood test results from the Barnes Hospital in St. Louis which was affiliated with the Washington University School of Medicine, the marriage license official asked what it was.

"My blood test results," Walt said. He told me later that he knew the only reason for the blood test before marriage was to see if a person had syphilis or not.

"Well," replied the man in a huff, "the blood test has to be on our official form and the blood test here in Utah takes a few days to have the results." (or something like that...)

"We're scheduled to be married tomorrow morning in the Salt Lake Temple, and our families are on their way to Utah to be here for it," I said in a panic.

We left City Hall and Walt called his Aunt Maureen Carlson in Woods Cross with whom he and his folks were going to stay that night. She had him call their family doctor who told Walt to go straight to the State Lab in downtown SLC and they might be able to do his blood test and give him the results the same day on the official form.

We went there, and they thought they could get it in time. It was getting late afternoon by now and I was really nervous. I remember thinking:

"This can't be happening, the day before our wedding is supposed to be a calm, peaceful day. We had everything planned so well (we thought) and now we might not get our marriage license in time to even get married tomorrow!"

I finally told Walt I was going to walk back back down to the City Hall....a few loooong blocks....to Fourth South (I think the lab was on South Temple or First South) and not let them close until Walt got there.

The minutes were flying by, the big City Hall clock approaching 5:00....and still no Walt in sight. About 4:55 here he came racing down the sidewalk, up the steps, and into the front door...with the blood test on the official form, which they accepted and issued our marriage license.

A couple had come in just before Walt got there who wanted to be married right then at the City Hall. The officials asked Walt and me to be there witnesses since they had no one with them. As we stood there I thought, how sad--no family or friends with them, and married only until death do they part.

We rendezvoused with our parents at Harmon's Cafe and had a chicken dinner together. We dramatized the harrowing day we had had...and we were all thankful for the lucky outcome.

Then Walt and his parents drove off to his aunt and uncle's and my Mom, Dad, and I went to the hotel just north of the temple next to Mormon Handicraft....which is where The Conference Center is now.

I didn't sleep much and got up early to do my hair...I think that was in the days before curling irons.

Next week we'll share June 14, 1961, about our marriage for time and eternity in the Salt Lake Temple surrounded by beloved family and friends.

Jennifer Brewer asked to be a Presenter at BYU Idaho Education Week - July 28-29-30, 2011

Here's Jen and her family when they were here at Christmastime. Husband, Jerry Brewer. Seth and Sarah, twins, age 8; Ben,5, Josh, 3, and Elizabeth 1. Hi...Just a mid-week mention that our youngest daughter, Jennifer Brewer, has been asked to be a presenter at the BYU Idaho Education Week July 28-29-30, 2011 in Rexburg. She will be doing 3 classes...each day: one on nutrition, one for youth, and... (I don't have my notes here).

Tickets go on sale March 1 via the BUY Idaho website. More later.

Congratulations, Jen, we're very proud of you!

She was asked to be interviewed on a radio station in Rochester, Minnesota, yesterday about couponing.

Love, Mom & Dad