Saturday, September 9, 2017

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- How Did Your Parents Meet?

Hey genea-folks, 
it's Saturday Night again, 


 time for more Genealogy Fun!



Your mission this week, should you decide to accept it, is to:


1) Do you know how, when and where your parents met?  

2)  Please tell the family story in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or in your own Facebook or Google+ post.

NOTE:  You can substitute your own story about meeting your spouse, or the story about your grandparents, etc.

Here's mine:

My father, Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983) grew up in Leominster, Massachusetts, the 5th of 7 children, but the oldest surviving son.  By the accounts of his siblings, he was fairly rowdy and irresponsible as a teenager and young adult, dropping out of several high schools and Dartmouth College.  In December 1940, escaping the deep snows of Massachusetts and/or a failed love match (there are two family stories here!), he took off for California.  He drove about 3,000 miles in three days through Columbus, St. Louis, Flagstaff, San Bernardino and to San Diego.  He arrived on the doorstep of his Aunt Emily (Richmond) Taylor in San Diego - surprise!

He lived with the Taylor family - Aunt Emily, Uncle George, Cousin Dorothy, Dorothy's husband Marshall, and their daughter Marcia, a 14-year old teenager - for some time in 1941.

My mother, Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002) was a shy, studious and hard working young lady who had graduated from San Diego State College in 1940, and was teaching Art and English at Woodrow Wilson Junior High School in City Heights in San Diego. 

According to Dorothy, who loved to tell the story every time we took her out to lunch in the 1980s, at some point Fred said "I need a girl friend" while at the dinner table, and Marcia said "I know a really nice teacher."  Guess who?  Yes, Betty, who Marcia knew from the art classes she attended at Woodrow Wilson Junior High, less than a mile from her home.

Somehow, a meeting was arranged, an invitation to dinner ensued to Betty Carringer and a romance was begun (I don't know for how long).  

In July 1942, they were married, went on a short honeymoon to Dana Point, and lived in a bungalow house on Twin Oaks Avenue in Chula Vista.  They both worked in the aircraft industry at Rohr Aircraft in Chula Vista until late 1943 when little Randy was born.



They say that opposites attract...and in this case you probably couldn't find two people more different from each other.  But it worked for 41 years, a traditional home, three responsible sons, and four grandchildren.  



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Copyright (c) 2017, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

7 comments:

Lisa S. Gorrell said...

We did this in 2015. Here's mine: http://mytrailsintothepast.blogspot.com/2015/10/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-how-did.html

Janice M. Sellers said...

Ah, I'm not the only one who noticed this was a repeat! Here's mine:

http://www.ancestraldiscoveries.com/2015/10/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-how-did.html

Lois Willis said...

I did one back in 2015 as well, so I decided to do one this week about my grandparents
https://loiswillis.blog/2017/09/10/sunday-afternoon-genealogy-fun-how-my-grandparents-met/

Colleen G. Brown Pasquale said...

My parents met in 1947. They were teenagers, living in Columbia County, NY. On weekends people would go to Square Dances, held in large barns or grange halls. They met at a square dance and married about a year later.. Almost 30 years later my husband & I met at a college dance.

Buzzard said...

As I remember the story, my parents met when some couples met. My mother and father were not happy with their dates but were interested in each other. Which was why my mother reminded me when I was on a blind date to be nice to the date; her friend might be someone you marry.
PS. Colleen - where did your parents live in Columbia County; my brother lives in Germantown and we all grew up in the northwest corner of Dutchess County.

Nancy Ward Remling said...

As usual with me of late, I'm behind. Here's mine-- how-- but who introduced them? I don't think we'll ever settle that for sure.

https://remlinggenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/09/saturday-challenge-how-i-met-your-mother.html

Unknown said...

As usual with me of late, I'm behind. Here's mine-- how-- but who introduced them? I don't think we'll ever settle that for sure.
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