Bill and Elaine Braden's 50th Wedding Anniversary
Planning for two celebrations!!June 5, 1993
In 1992, Jay was assigned to Fort Eustis, Virginia. That was about a 3 1/2 hour drive to his parents' house in Severna Park, Maryland. That was not real close, but close enough so that Jay and Bonnie could visit up there perhaps as much as once a month.
Jay and Bonnie noted that Jay’s parents were married on June 5, 1943, and therefore in June 1993, they would celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. So in perhaps February 1993, Bonnie approached Jay's mother about Jay and Bonnie throwing his parents, Bill and Elaine, a 50th wedding anniversary celebration. Jay's mother, however, was adamant that she did not want such a celebration.
Okay, no problem.
No problem at all.
And so that is how Bonnie began arranging the SURPRISE 50th Wedding Anniversary Party. Not a small job; especially in doing so from a distance. There were the tasks of creating the invitations, making and mailing the invitation list, arranging food and beverages, booking a limousine and a band, purchasing supplies, arranging for a cake....
A lot of work, but things were progressing.
And then, on a visit in perhaps April, Jay's Mom announces that she has changed her mind, and an anniversary celebration would be okay.
Oooops.
Well, June 5,1993 was on a Saturday, so the first thing that Jay and Bonnie told his parents was that because they had not been planning an anniversary celebration, they had already made arrangements for that Saturday and the best they could do for an anniversary celebration was two weeks from then, on Saturday the 19th. That was acceptable.
So during April and May Bonnie would go out with Jay's Mom, Elaine, and they would plan for the celebration on the 19th, making arrangements such as food and beverages and invitations, etc. Of course as soon as Bonnie was away from Elaine, she would cancel all those arrangements because the surprise party was still on for the 5th.
As a prelude to celebrating the 50th wedding anniversary of my mother and father, there was a time earlier that day when I took my father out and made a video tape. At that time VCR recorders were about the size of a small suitcase, and you carried them on your shoulder for videotaping. I asked my father, at that time, to share with me some of his memories of World War II. Bill Braden, when called to service, attended Officer Candidate School (OCS). He graduated; not all did. Ultimately his branch was Ordnance, which deals with ammunition and similar things. To the best of my knowledge he was in charge of ammunition dumps in France and Belgium. I recall learning that some of the troops that worked for him were Soviet soldiers who had been captured by the Germans and freed by the Allies. They worked for the US Army until it was safe for them to return to Russia. I am not aware of any illness or behavior or reason for him to have had PTSD. As with many others, he served honorably and returned home to resume a civilian life (though Dad was called up for the Korean Conflict and ended up staying in the Army until he retired). When I asked him to tell me about his service in World War II, he told me he did not really remember. Wow, some of the most memorable years of his life and they were gone. Wish I had asked him earlier. Sad! So, a few years later, when the BradenClan website was created, I decided to list every one of my military assignments and post some comments on each of them. There will likely be a day when my memory fails, and I wanted to leave those memories in print, should that time come when my children or grandchildren ask me, "PaPa B, what did you do . . .?" |
And, yes, the party on the 5th was a big surprise and everyone had a good time.
And we will remember what all it took to plan two 50th Anniversary Parties.
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