My in-laws, Dorothy and Vince, had another poignant story with their wedding. My father-in-law was a Catholic from a NY Irish American family. He had come 'south' to Maryland to live with his older brother who had married and also married into a family business. Vince went into the same business, awnings and storm windows, and lived in SE Washington DC. Just how he met Georgetown Dorothy is a whole other story but let's just say you should never ask a girlfriend to take care of your 'beau' while you go away! Dorothy came from a VA family that moved to DC after the family's fortunes turned post Civil War. She was raised a Southern Baptist and that difference in religion was a very big deal back then.
The Catholic priest agreed to marry them but not IN the church. They had to be married in the church rectory and it was as close to a civil ceremony as the Catholic Church could make it. Of course, for Vince to have considered being married in the Baptist Church was unthinkable. His mother Martha would have rolled over in her grave - had she been dead - but instead came down from Brooklyn to attend the wedding. Other than their two witnesses, the mother of the bride and the mother of the groom were the only other attendants. I loved my mother-in-law and to the very end she never 'converted' but she would get an exasperated look when ever she talked of the rectory wedding. There are many ways to make someone feel 2nd class, and that rectory wedding tried to make it's mark on her. Fortunately, it failed!
No comments:
Post a Comment