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I was 11, and we had a Mass in our home the day of the anniversary, and a dinner for immediate family. Dad thought we were done with the celebrating, but little did he know that on Sunday we were having a huge "surprise" anniversary party! Since it was at our house, we had to tell him some people were coming over, but when the bus of IHM sisters arrived from Immaculata College, he knew this was bigger than he anticipated! How we crammed over 100 people in our small home I will never know, but I remember the fun and the laughter to this day.
Our family is planning a celebration too, over the Christmas holidays when family will be in from out of town. I realized my parents set such a lovely example that I try to emulate every day. And their love almost didn't happen...
My Mom was quite unusual in 1948. She had a Bachelor of Science degree in Dietetics, moved away from home to work just outside of Philadelphia, and at 27 wasn't married, despite being engaged several times! She honestly thought she may have a calling to the convent as her two sisters had. So in the spring of 1948 she traveled to Peru to visit her sister Theresa, Sister Mary Joan IHM.
While they were there, they took food to a wise woman who lived in the mountains. My aunt spoke to her in Spanish and said, "My sister has a calling to be a nun like me." The old woman gazed at my Mom, and answered, "No, she has the eyes of a bride."
So, my Mom headed home without a clear answer on what to do. She brought letters and gifts from many of the Sisters to their families in the Philadelphia area. One family became good friends and told her to come to dinner one night. She almost didn't go since, as head Dietitian in a major hospital, it had been a hectic day. But go she did, and who was standing there but a dashing young man - yes my Dad!
Pictured below - bottom center.
They were married a few months later on Thanksgiving Day 1948.
My Mom passed away 17 years before my Dad, and he missed her so every day of his life. Losing Dad was made just a tiny bit easier knowing they were reunited in love in heaven.
-Jane
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