— Diane Henrikson Russell
In the 1950s, I loved watching the television show titled Bride and Groom. Every week a couple would exchange vows on live TV. I was especially enthralled by each bride’s beautiful, white, flowing wedding dress. One of the first outfits I bought for my new Barbie doll was a white wedding dress with a veil (I still have it).
Imagine my surprise when I learned that my mom’s wedding dress was not full-length, flowing or white!
The circumstances of her engagement and wedding were determined by the US Army Air Force. My dad graduated from Officer Candidate School (OCS) as a 2nd Lieutenant MAC on May 12, 1943. He proposed to my mom when he arrived in Chicago the next day. They could not set a wedding date because they did not know where my dad would be stationed.
After a week in Salt Lake City in the assignment pool, my dad learned that he would be stationed in Walla Walla, Washington. Length of assignment? Unknown. In the meantime, my mom finished her last semester at Northwestern University and graduated in mid-June.
My mom and dad agreed that the wedding would take place in Walla Walla. The date was set for July 3 so that both sets of parents could take time off from work during the long July 4 weekend. My dad’s parents would take the train from Chicago, and my mom and her parents would take the train from Des Moines.
During ordinary times, there is no doubt that my mom would have selected a white, flowing, full-length wedding dress complete with a full-length veil. Space on trains was limited, and the odds of a full-length wedding dress and veil arriving without wrinkles were slim.
My mom, a fashion maven, shopped in Des Moines for a stylish knee-length, pleated dress with a thin belt. Blue dresses were in fashion for WWII brides, so my mom selected a steel blue dress. She accessorized her dress with a matching steel blue hat, a long pearl necklace, and a purple corsage.
Vintage 1940’s blue dresses suitable for war brides
My dad’s parents were surprised to see my mom and her parents board their train in Des Moines, so they traveled together to Walla Walla. Fortunately, my mom, her dress, and both sets of parents arrived safely, and the wedding took place without a hitch at the First Congregational Church of Walla Walla on Saturday, July 3, 1943.
As my parents’ 25th anniversary approached in July 1968, I wanted my mom to bring out her wedding dress so that I could see it and try it on. I was almost 16 and a couple of inches taller than my mom. My mom’s dress did fit me! Then, my mom decided to try on her dress. She glowed as much as a bride as she posed with my dad for her 25th anniversary photo.
Art and Lois are pictured during their college years in the gallery above. To discover how a chance meeting at a Freshman dance sealed their future together, read Back to the Future – Wildcat Style, first printed in August 2023. — Editor
Diane Henrikson Russell, Curator of Henrikson Cartoon Archive. Diane has been an OLLI Member since 2014. She has taken over 70 OLLI courses on leadership, radio, life story writing, Tai Chi, healthy aging, literature, science, politics, sociology, and humanities. Diane volunteers as a proofreader for the OLLI catalog and for OLLI Connects. Diane was Co-chair of the Volunteer Management Committee from 2019 through early 2023.
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