Autobiography - Wedding Bells — Captain Father John

Our wedding was magical. Much of our wedding was planned by Priscilla’s mother Jean using the template from her older sister Alison’s wedding four years earlier. The reception was under a tent in the back yard of the family home at 243 Main Street in Hingham. Priscilla arrived home from our cross country trip in time to send out the invitations. We ordered our wedding rings from a local artist. I still have my original wedding ring. It was designed with a hammered bark finish. It is now a bit thinner and smooth. I almost lost my wedding ring on two occasions. The first time was during R and R at a Rust-Oleum sales meeting in Tarpon Springs. One of the recreation options was night fishing on a charter boat. We were baiting our own hooks with slimy squid. After baiting my hook I shook hands downward and my wedding ring slipped off my finger and bounced on the deck. My wedding ring was headed for the scupper and overboard. I dove on the deck and slid on the squid goo and grabbed my ring within millimeters of gong into the ocean.

The second frightening occasion when I almost lost my wedding ring was on the Swan River in Perth Australia. On the weekend, when I was traveling on business, I decided to rent a catamaran and go sailing. As with most rental boats the condition was not perfect. The mainsheet was twisted around itself making it difficult to let the mainsail out. As I was sailing along I reached up to untwist the mainsheet and the line popped my wedding ring off. I saw my wedding ring flying in the air. My heart sank thinking my wedding ring was sinking in the muck of the Swan River. By some miracle or divine intervention my ring landed on the edge of the trampoline. I ever so carefully crawled to the edge of the boat and retrieved my ring. I still have that same ring 46 years latter.

Selecting the church for our wedding was not without its own drama. The Smith family children were practicing Catholics and attended mass spoken in Latin from the age of five. Over the years many changes were made to make the services more welcoming by speaking the sermons in English. What did not change was the requirement to get married in the Catholic Church was to marry a Catholic or to have the fiancé attend religious classes and promise to raise the children in the Catholic Church. If I did not take the religious classes we could nor be married at the alter. After 21 years as a member of the parish Priscilla chose to be married at the Congressional church next door. The irony is both churches were so close they shared the same parking lot. The minister was Priscilla’s very good friend Debby Honstra’s husband Paul Atkins. It is nice to have a friend that has his own church. We raised our children in the Methodist Church that was less than a block from our house in Lake Bluff.

The wedding party was enormous. Priscilla had her five sisters Alison, Roberta, Laura, Rebecca and Sarah. Alison was the maid of honor. Roberta’s son Jacob was the ring bearer Alison’s daughter Laura was the flower girl. My groomsmen were my two brothers Bruce and Bill and Priscilla’s brother David and four of my college friends Barry Palmer, Bill Robinson, Kevin Miller and Peter Robinson. Jay Ferriter was best man. My friends had to plan the completion of their cross country trip to get home in time to get their tuxedoes in time for the wedding. The wedding and reception were flawless and a lot of fun. We spent our wedding night at a nearby hotel in Braintree. It was Friday night of Labor Day weekend. The Blue Angels Air Force crews were also spending the night in the same hotel in the room above ours. Those fly boys sure know how to party all night long.

Jay and Barry planned my bachelor party. We met at an apartment near NU and a large group of friends were present. Kevin Miller bought a sweat suit that he spray painted black stripes on it so it looked like a prison uniform. They also had a bowling bowl with a chain and shackle. The evening started with shots of vodka. I quickly realized each person was toasting me individually. After a few shots I insisted everyone drink every time. We piled in several cars and drove to downtown Boston and the combat zone. The combat zone was a late night bar area. As I crossed the road dragging my bowling ball my friends dispersed. I found myself standing all alone in the middle of the street in a prisoner suit and dragging a bowling ball that is chained to my ankle with a padlock. The rest of the night is a blur.

Saturday we drove south from Braintree on our way to western New Jersey. We had rented an apartment in Dover, New Jersey. We were married on Friday, September 6, 1974 and I started work with Rust-Oleum on Tuesday September 10. We spent our second night with Priscilla’s aunt and uncle Hollis and Anita Carlisle in Stonington, Ct. The Carlisle family had owned a chain of hardware stores in western Massachusetts that they sold to Aubushon Hardware. They were gracious hosts and we visited them often. The next day we arrived in New Jersey on Sunday and met the moving truck with our furniture. We had Monday to get organized and Tuesday I started my new job with Rust-Oleum Corp.

Wait a minute. What about a honeymoon? Priscilla was very practical. Her engagement ring was a lovely 1.5 karat cubic zirconium. She preferred cash on hand for a down payment on a house. Regarding our honeymoon, Rust-Oleum had planned a national sales meeting at the Wigwam in Scottsdale, Arizona. Wives were invited every other year. As our usual luck 1974 was a year with wives invited. We spent our honeymoon in our private villa surrounded by 50 other RO employees.

The happy couple John and Priscilla on September 6, 1974