Parents' 50th Wedding Anniversary
Information provided:
Mom and Dad met when they were both attending the University of Pennsylvania. Dad was at Wharton Business School and Mom was a very pretty student attending the Univ. of Penn School of Nursing. On their first date, Dad asked to "skip out" to look at a basketball game playing. (She should have known this would have been his lifelong interest in watching.) Dad was in a fraternity Alpha Chi Rho and they attended many parties there. Dad was in ROTC and Mom and to wait 9 months for him to get home from the Korean War. After that they then became engaged and married on December 26, 1954. Mom was just 21 and Dad was 24 when they were married. My sister, Joanne was born in August. After the wedding my parents moved to Boston where Dad attending the Harvard School of Business! and my mother was a nurse (pregnant with my sister Joanne.) They started in very humble beginnings, a one room apt. After my sister was born my mother still had to work while Dad continued to attend school. Mom took the night shift so Dad could watch the baby. After graduation, they moved to NJ and my brother was born 2 yeas after Joanne and I was born 2 years after him.
Mom and Dad have always been active in the church and raised all four of their children that way. My sister Jennifer was born 7 year after me. Dad is an avid tennis player and his father we also and avid tennis player. His father, Clem, is inducted into the New England Tennis Hall of Fame. We are a tennis family and some of the 7 grandchildren play tennis (2 oldest grandchildren Carolyn - 16 (mine) and Richie 15 (Joanne's) play on high school varsity tennis teams. We run a sanctioned family tournament in Mass every summer for senior ranked men and have been doing this for over 20 years. Mom and Dad continue to have a love affair today. They are true partners in life.
Mom has a love of all kinds of cats (even the wild ones) and mom and dad have always had cats as pets in their home.
Dad is not fond of onions. Mom likes a good steak. She loves to decorate and keep a beautiful home. She also keeps herself looking beautiful, and bakes the best fruit pies.
Here's the Poem it generated:
At U. of Pennsylvania, Mom and Dad you did meet.
At Alpha Chi Rho, frat parties were neat.
Dad, you got mom to skip classes one day,
To a basketball game you did steal her away.
Mom, you chose nursing to be your vocation;
While Dad you pursued business with keen dedication.
Then, a stint in Korea did keep you apart.
But, that couldn't dampen the love in your hearts!
You were married soon after the end of the war,
On December 26th, nineteen fifty four.
In a one-room apartment, you began married life;
A husband a Harvard, a nurse for his wife.
In your one-room apartment to your delight,
A daughter was born, so Mom, you worked nights.
While Dad finished school, and cared for Joanne.
Then, a move to New jersey, and your new life began.
Charles was born next, then June and then Jen;
The family complete, you moved forward again.
You taught us to love all sorts of things,
Like God, and family, and a good tennis swing!
Your children grew up, and the world you did roam.
You still love your cats, and keep a beautiful home.
No onions for Dad and for a Mom, a good steak.
(No one can beat the fruit pies you bake!)
It's hard to believe you've been married so long.
Your life seems to be one continued love song.
It's with love in our hearts that bring us to tears,
As we wish you God's blessings through the next fifty years!
Happy 50th Anniversary!
Testimonial:
Thank you so much. You have a wonderful talent, and I am so pleased with the result.
-June Whiting