Hats, gloves, and a re-usable green wedding gown

My parents were happily married for over fifty years until my dad's death in 2002.  I've been thinking about him a lot lately, and thought I would post a couple of my favorite photos.  However, looking at them again, it's my mom who jumps off the page more than my dad, though he did look handsome in his uniform.  (He left to serve in Korea the following year.)

I wish I had a color photo of their wedding day.  My mom wore a one-of-a-kind dress that my grandmother made for her.  Look at all that lace!  What was unusual about it is that the dress was not white.  It wasn't ecru, ivory, or winter white either.  It was a pale shade of green which Mom thought complemented her red hair more than white.

February 1951

Thankfully my mom is still living so she could solve a couple of mysteries surrounding this photo.  First of all, whatever happened to her dress?  She had a simple enough answer for that question.  She had it shortened, and continued to wear it as a cocktail dress for different events she and my dad attended in Dallas.  How cool is that, to have a wedding dress you can wear more than once?

The other mystery I asked her about was the cake.  What on earth was it?  In this photo it looks like a blob of mashed potatoes or something, but she assured me that it was a very fancy cake made by one of the finest bakeries in Ft. Worth.  We'll have to take her word on that one.

Here is another one of my favorite photos.  It's one of only two photos I have of just me and my parents without siblings.  That's what happens when you are born fourth. 

This was taken at Park Cities Baptist Church on baby dedication Sunday (or was it Mother's Day?) in 1960.  Don't you love the hat, the classic linen dress, and the white gloves?  (The only time I ever wore white gloves was when I played in the handbell choir many years later at the same church in Dallas.)