There is no photographic record of our wedding. I had a state of the art Cannon F1 camera in 1974 that I paid for on the installment plan. Usually I was behind the lens, not in front.
On May 5th, 1974 we drove to Brewton, Alabama to the home of Coy and Brenda Phillips. Coy had been the minister of a church that Jilda and her family had attended and he had always told her when the day came that she got married he wanted to do the job.
When we got to Brewton, we changed out of our blue jeans and got ready to tie the knot. I wore gray slacks, a white shirt and brown velvet jacket, Jilda wore a long flowing beige dress with ruffles and looked liked a tiny China doll.
Standing on Coy and Brenda’s front porch, Coy opened his Bible and began to read from 1st Corinthians. It was a warm afternoon in south Alabama but a gentle breeze came up out of the West and cooled our faces.
I had given Brenda a crash course on using my camera but my instructions must have sounded like Mandarin to her because after the honeymoon when I developed the film there was nothing but black space.
After the vows, we said our goodbyes and headed to the beach. We stopped at a convenience store and bought Hostess Twinkies and Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill wine. We found a shady spot, ate our Twinkies and toasted our future with wine filled red plastic cups.
We honeymooned at friends of Jilda’s parent’s cottages in Laguna Beach, Florida. The Quinns were older than Jilda’s parents but they were like family to her and welcomed me with open arms.
We spent our days swimming in the warm Gulf water, walking on the beach and stuffing ourselves with seafood.
The cottages were built with concrete blocks, and had no AC. At night we slept on the screened porch and fell asleep listening to the sound of the surf. It was paradise.
After the honeymoon, we headed home to Sumiton and a 12×65 foot trailer complete with orange shag carpet. It did not have AC neither, nor a screen porch or sound of the surf. But we were young and it was almost paradise.
I worked for The Community New and Jilda worked at Keynote Fashions. A handicapper in Vegas would have given odds that our marriage would never last. There were times the stars aligned against us and it would have been easy to walk away, but we didn’t.
As I sit here reflecting on our 40th Anniversary tonight, Jilda’s getting the Hostess Twinkies and champagne ready for our toast. (Too old for the Boone’s Farm) We both have said more than once today, we’d do it all over again. We beat the odds.
A note from Jilda, “May 5th, 2023 was our 49th Anniversary, a Hostess Twinkie and a glass of champagne and a toast to Rick, and the tradition continues.”
