West Virginia couple Lorraine and Ulysses Dawson were looking forward to their wedding anniversary. It was not the 1st or 10th or 50th anniversary!. ………..It…. was…… the……. 75th…… anniversary!………. 75 years of togetherness!
Lorraine & Ulysses got the white wedding they never had. And do you know who organised it? Members of five generations of their family together organised it!
In 1946, Lorraine and Ulysses Dawson said “I do” for the first time. Their ceremony was very different from the typical wedding that is celebrated now. It was the end of World War II and Lorraine donned a red suit while Ulysses wore his Army uniform.
It wasn’t a traditional church wedding. but it was a wedding which united the hearts of those two, who loved each other earnestly. 9 children were born to them and with the passage of time their love for each other became more & more intimate and it developed into a beautiful marriage that stretched over to 75 years.
So, when the day for Ulysses’ and Lorraine’s 75th anniversary celebration approached, their family came up with an out of the box idea. They thought of a unique way to celebrate their strongly bonded love story!
As the special date came closer, Lorraine made a simple comment & it triggered off a host of activities. She told her daughter Laverna Sharon Adkins, “You know, I’ve never had a wedding.”
The family decided to have a traditional church wedding. It would be the ideal way in order to make the 75th anniversary the best celebration for Lorraine and Ulysses Dawson.
“That’s how it all came together. [It] was my mother’s wish and so everybody got together,” Laverna explained cheerfully.
On the special day Lorraine wore a pretty white gown. As a proud veteran, Ulysses stuck with a replica of the Army uniform that he had worn when he and Lorraine had proposed for the first time and had got married.
Surrounded by the members who belonged to five different generations of their family, who had come together only because of their 75th anniversary celebration. Lorraine and Ulysses Dawson said “I do”. What was special was that the “I do” was said for the second time in a breathtaking beautiful traditional church wedding ceremony. This was something different. This was something that they never got a chance to experience in 1946.
75 years had passed. But the tender intimacy shared by these two was clearly spotted in their eyes. The celebration of a 75th wedding anniversary is a precious blessing, indeed. And none except Lorraine and Ulysses Dawson know this better.
“My prayers were answered and I thank God for it all,” Ulysses reacted in an emotionally high strung voice after his church marriage and the grand celebration that followed.
Many people came asking for guidance. The request that was repeatedly made to the glorious couple was to share the secret of enjoying such a long & loving marriage. And the couple was ever ready to share the secret.
“The main thing is God and putting Him first,” Ulysses explained.
The secret to a happy life is giving God – the first part of your day – the first priority to every decision & the first place in your heart!
