My children love to look at pictures. They want to see the
selfie we took immediately after we took it. They want to sit in front of the
computer and look at their baby pictures. They want to hold photo albums and
flip through the pages of pictures. The girls have really been interested in
our wedding photos lately. A couple nights ago Maiesha also discovered a box in
the coat closet marked “wedding keepsakes”. It was taped closed so I know it
has been at least 4 years (when we moved to Arkansas) since we have opened it,
but probably more like 8 years (when we moved to Evansville, IN). We cut the
tape and began to look through the treasures inside. Most of it was uneventful.
There were extra copies of our invitations, programs, and napkins. There were
some old bows. They really loved seeing my hand made tiara and the Isotoner
slippers I wore down the aisle. It was fun for me to remember those wedding
moments, but the best thing I found in the box was a copy of an article my Grandma
Keppeler had written and published in one of the local newspapers back home on
January 16, 2001 – just about 8 months before our wedding. They had been
married 54 years at the time she wrote it. This was especially nostalgic since
Grandma just passed away a few months ago. Grandpa left us in 2009. I want to
share that article with you. It is beautiful! The title is “I Didn’t Even Have a Picture of Him!”
As a
normal teen, I thought of love and marriage and I prayed for the right man to
come along someday. Our family lived west of Hicksville [Ohio], just into
Indiana, and I was busy with school, music, parties and work.
But I
was getting impatient with God.
On
June 21, 1945, when I was 19, I came home from work and Mother…with a big smile
on her face… said I had a letter. It was from Marvin Keppeler, a GI who I didn’t
know; except that he was my brother-in-law’s brother. But somehow I knew he was
the man for me. I had no picture of him. All I knew was that he wrote letters
like a gentleman.
Marvin
was in the service. And, as you may know, that could be a very lonesome place
to be. World War II was over, but they had other things in mind for him. They
must have thought they were going to turn him into a medic. He was stationed at
Fitzsimmons General Hospital in Denver when he happened to remember that his
sister-in-law had a younger sister. So he had asked her if her sister was available
and if so, what was her address? That was how it all started and why he first
wrote to me.
After
that, I didn’t know where his letters would come from. He was sent to Bushnell
General Hospital in Brigham City, Utah, where he helped nurse the wounded and
even helped with a surgical procedure. Then he was transferred to Camp Crowder,
Missouri and then to Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Letters went back and forth
very steadily until he came home on furlough in September.
Golly!
When he came to my door, there stood the most handsome man! I was nearly tongue-tied. And for me, that’s almost impossible! My
brother-in-law, Marion Monosmith, had just returned home from the front lines
in Germany and he was over at my brother’s house. Marion had also been Marvin’s
next-door neighbor, so we both wanted to see him. And that’s where we went on
our first date.
We
also saw some movies and went to the Dekalb County Fair before he had to go
back to active duty. In early December, he was sent to Cairo, Egypt, where
there was little to do except keep out of trouble. Then in January, his father
passed away after suffering a heart attack. This upset Marvin very much, since
he was the one who had been most involved in farming with his father and his
father had been upset when the government had taken four of his six sons into
the service. Marvin put in for a discharge so he could go home to manage the
farm. There was nothing for them to do in Egypt because there were disagreeable
people there. There were even riots in the streets.
Finally
in April, Marvin was given his discharge and he flew home with a group of other
soldiers. We dated all summer, and on August 3, 1946, he came to see me and said
his brother Roy had told him that if we were going to get married, we’d have to
do it right away because he’d been called into the Army. That was Marvin’s way
of asking for my hand in marriage.
At
that time, prospective brides and grooms had to have blood tests to see if they
had syphilis or gonorrhea. So, since I was living in Indians, we went to Ft
Wayne on Monday for the test and to buy a dress and hat for me and a suit for
him. The test results came in the mail the very next day. (Can you imagine
that?) On Thursday, I went shopping for a minster. And it wasn’t easy. You see,
all but one of them were at conventions. The one who wasn’t happened to be from
the Church of God in Auburn [Indiana] and by coincidence, Marvin’s family
attended the Church of God here in Edgerton and they had even owned the ground
on which the building stood. We got married that Saturday…August 10, 1946…and
then went to his aunt’s home in Chicago.
We
went to church on Sunday at the Tabernacle, then took a drive past many places
of interest. Then we went window shopping, trying to find a sink which we hadn’t
been able to find at home because of war-year shortages. On Monday, we went
back to the store where we’d found the sink and had it shipped home. Then we
were off for our honeymoon to Wisconsin to visit the Dells, then to Iowa to
meet more of his relatives, and then back to my home. Then I went to his home
to live…and that turned out to be the first and last move I’ve ever made.
Our
first child, Linda, was born on September 4, 1947. Then came Sharon on
September 14, 1948, Garold on February 19, 1953, Gayle on April 24, 1958 and
Lee on March 13, 1959. We now have 13 grandchildren...
At
Christmas this year, nearly all the members of our family were here and we had
a house full indeed!
I
thank God for answering my prayers. (published Farmland News, Archbold, OH Tuesday, January 16, 2001 Wedding Guide)
My Grandma was the last of her 9 siblings to leave this
earth. One of my Grandpa’s 5 brothers is still alive and living in Wenatchee, Washington.
This will be our first Christmas without their generation in attendance to hold
us all together. They have left behind their 5 children, 15 grandchildren, and
24 great-grandchildren (plus one on the way) to carry on their legacy that
began with that first letter in 1945. I miss them so much, but I love these
little remnants for their life together that help us never forget them.
