64 YEARS LATER!

Marvin & Martha are on a trip from Kenosha, Wisconsin to Weatherford, Texas and it just worked out that they could be in Cerro Gordo, Illinois on December 3, 2013 ... 64 years to the date of their wedding.  So of course they had to take a journey back to 1949.

The day started with a drive to Monticello, Illinois and the courthouse where they originally picked up their marriage license.  Monticello was a perfect place for a corsage and a boutonniere.  After lunch they headed for Cerro Gordo, Illinois and Mom's hometown.

Everywhere they went they received congratulations and best wishes!!!

   

Took some coaxing to get Mom out of the car at the Little White Church

but once she understood we wanted pictures she was on board.  

Headed downtown for coffee at Judy's Kitchen (formerly the Victory Cafe) where they were joined by nieces, Linda Adams Gandy & Challis Miller Perkins, and their daughter Katherine Wood Goodman in a celebratory cup of coffee.

A kiss for good luck and off they went for the next 64!!!

THE WEDDING -- Now or Never!

The wedding date was set for Saturday, December 3rd ... why wait so long?  Marv needed to draw his monthly paycheck on December 1st. When he only received $10 Marv called Martha to tell her there would be no wedding that month. She said "now or never" ... so Marv borrowed $70 and Martha had saved $60 and the wedding was on.

The Brethren Church was the site for the wedding and Reverend Tinkle performed the ceremony on December 3, 1949. Guests included Maude Adams (the bride's mother), Robert Adams (brother), Marcia Adams (sister), Cleo & Wally Miller, Ruby & Homer Miller. Standing up with the wedding couple were Eileen & Max Born. John Devitt (Marv's buddy) was supposed to be the best man but he wasn't allowed because he wasn't a Protestant. In fact Marv had to work to get permission to get married following his recent divorce, but Rev Tinkle agreed when he learned Marv's first wife was already remarried.

The bride wore a white silk dress (street length) and a white cloche hat with a large curled feather. Unfortunately there are no pictures from the happy day.

Cerro Gordo Brethren Church (1942), Known in Cerro Gordo as "The Little White Church"

The reception was coffee at the Victory Cafe in Cerro Gordo. When they came out of the Victory the car doors were tied shut as part of the shiveree so they had to break in before heading off to Decatur for a short honeymoon. Marv headed back to Chanute the next day.

Dad's Story:  "Out of the fire into the frying pan", my mother was not coming to the wedding. I'd just been divorced a short time and she thought I was making a big mistake rushing into another marriage. I was married in my military uniform at the church in Cerro Gordo. We parked the car in the yard at Martha's and walked to the church. Martha had a hat with a feather and it shook all during the ceremony ... it tickled me. After the ceremony we went up town to have coffee.

It was raining and the "suicide" doors on the car were tied shut. After we got into the car we only made it a few miles down the road before the car quit. They had pulled the wires loose on the distributor and they had fallen out. So there I was in the rain, in the dark, putting the wires back into the distributor but we made it to our motel in Decatur.

Mom's Story:  I don't remember much, just walking down the aisle and standing in front of the preacher. Didn't spend any money on the wedding except to pay the preacher. I bought my own wedding ring for $10 and it's still going good 64 years later. Marv did give me his mother's engagement ring (from his father, Forest Wood) when we went to visit his parents in Kenosha a few weeks later.

THE PROPOSAL --- Three Weeks After The USO Dance

Next week back to Cerro Gordo and Martha. Played canasta all weekend at Wally & Cleo Miller's home. Back again the next week, same routine. Marvin's new home-away-from-home was Cerro Gordo and it looked like this was going to be more than just dating. Martha wasn't complaining either, and looked forward to the weekends with Marv.

Dad's Story:   On our 3rd weekend date I asked Martha if she would marry me and she said "no". Looked at her and asked again and she said "yes". We set the date for December 3rd (three weeks later) and we only waited that long because I would pull my monthly paycheck on November 30th.

When I asked Martha to marry me I wrote my mother and told her I had met someone and was getting married but she decided not to travel from Kenosha to the wedding. I'd been married before and was just divorced in August and Mom thought I was rushing things. She was right, Martha and I had only known each other for three weeks.

Marvin Wood, 1949, Iwo Jima

BACKSTORY:  Marvin joined the Army October 15, 1945 (World War II), he had just turned 17 in July. He was stationed as a cook at the 79th Field Hospital in Galesburg, Illinois where he met and married Mary Nelson.  After returning from the Army they started a small restaurant in Galesburg. The restaurant business was tough and Marvin decided to return to military service (this time to the Air Force) in April 1948. Mary wasn't going along with this decision and their marriage ended while he was in Iwo Jima in August 1949. When he returned from Iwo Jima he went to Mary and retrieved his belongings and his mother's engagement ring. Marvin was sent to Chanute AFB in Illinois for technical training.

Mom's Story:  I'd been dating a farmer but he wrote he couldn't come to Cerro Gordo to visit (he was from Gibson City). So Marvin was coming on the weekends and I guess I'd broken up with the farmer but I hadn't quite let go. Told Marvin I wasn't interested in getting married for years when we met at the USO dance. He said the same.

Sitting on the couch at my parents and Marv was standing behind me with his hands on my shoulders and asked "what would you say if I asked you to get married?" I said "you'd be a damn fool". Next thing I knew he asked and I said "yes"! I think I floored him ... he couldn't back out ... he had prepared the path. I hadn't been thinking about marriage, if I had I would have said "no" but my mouth just opened and I said "yes".

MEETING The Family

A week after the USO Dance, Marvin was in Cerro Gordo, Illinois for the football game on a weekend pass. Martha lived with with her parents. Cleo & Wally Miller (an Illinois state trooper) knew Marv was coming so they sat in the squad car waiting to check him out.

Marvin Drove A '37 Dodge ... Black With 2 Blue Fenders ... Not Quite As Clean As This One

DAD's Story:  The first person I met when I arrived at the football game was Wally Miller, Martha's uncle and an Illinois state trooper. He directed me to Martha in the stands. Don't remember much about the game ... "what game?"

Slept on the couch at Martha's parents. Francis her brother was very cool. Robert & Marcia were friendly. Don't remember much about Ernie (Martha's Dad) but her mother Maude was friendly. Before I left to return to Chanute I already had a date for the next weekend in Cerro Gordo.

Hocked my watch for enough money to drive to see Martha. Watch only cost me $20 and I would hock it for $10 and pay back $15 when I needed cash ... which was every month.

Martha ADAMS (age 16) at Cerro Gordo House

MOM's Story:  Must have made a good impression because Marvin came to Cerro Gordo the next weekend for the Monticello/Cerro Gordo football game. Uncle Wally Miller (an Illinois state trooper) and his wife Cleo Miller were sitting in the squad car at the ball field and Marvin headed to them and introduced himself because I'd told him I had an uncle in the State Police. We all remained fast friends from that day forward.

Marvin WOOD at the Cerro Gordo House

"Marv was so young and good looking with the curl on his forehead". Cerro Gordo was not used to soldiers, Chanute was not that close. My Dad and brother Francis didn't have much to say to Marvin ... they had both been soldiers and knew a few things. My Mom said he could spend the night and he slept on the sofa in the front room of my parent's house. Before Marv left we had a date for the next weekend in Cerro Gordo.

USO DANCE -- From Across The Room

Marvin WOOD (my father) and Martha ADAMS (my mother) met at a USO dance at the Service Club on Chanute AFB in Rantoul, Illinois. The date was October 22, 1949, Martha has just turned 20 a few days before the dance.  Marvin was 21 and an Airman in an aircraft maintenance training class at Chanute AFB.

USO Dance From The 1940s (Not A Family Picture)

DAD's Story:  On our way to the tavern in Rantoul to get drunk on a Saturday night and said "hey, there's a dance at the USO let's go see what's going on". Johnny Devitt (my buddy) and I walked in the door and looked across the dance floor and there was Martha in all her glory ... a sweater girl! I looked at her and Johnny looked at her and we both headed her way but I got there first. "Sorry Johnny!"

We danced all night long, talked a little, lied about our names (which was normal) and had a great time. I was just divorced and Martha was dating a farmer. Walked her to the bus, she invited me to the football game the next weekend in Cerro Gordo and I kissed her goodnight.

In store was a weekend of bliss and rapture! That night after leaving the dance I sat down and wrote the girl I was chasing in Kenosha, Wisconsin and told her that I'd met the girl I was going to marry ... "sorry" again for the second time that night, but not really.

Marvin's air training certificate and class photo, Chanute AFB.

MOM's Story:  The Catholic Girl's Bus from Decatur, Illinois was going to a USO Dance with the soldiers at Chanute AFB in Rantoul, Illinois.  Patsy, a classmate from high school, went with me. This was my first and last venture to a USO dance.

Marvin came across the dance floor when he entered the auditorium and asked me to dance and we did the rest of the night. We gave each other fake names. When I went to get on the bus we told each other who we really we were and where we lived. We kissed each other goodbye ... the first kiss!  I didn't tell my farmer goodbye.