We can’t be sure when they met, but it is likely that their first date was in 1947. Our mother recounts in her Grandmother’s Memories that it was on St. Patrick’s Day when our father astutely chose to take her to see My Wild Irish Rose, the story of the life of Irish tenor Chauncey Alcott. Most of their dates involved music in one way or another.

A handsome white 1939 Buick coupe—sometimes called an “opera coupe” which, no doubt appealed to our father—also features prominently in many of the photos of our parents’ years in the late 1940s:

We don’t really know much of their story from that time, but there are plenty of photos from their days of friendship and courtship as a couple, along with many friends. Below is a photo of Marian with Joe Zerblus, Paul’s roommate, in front of the Buick coupe that figures in many photos of the time—Joe would later serve as best man at their wedding:

[Courtship slide show] 

The wedding was a morning one at Gesu Church downtown with a full reception for guests afterwards at their first home. Among their friends were a couple of professional photographers whose high-quality photos speak for themselves:

[Marriage slide show] 

Their nearly month-long honeymoon began with a first night in Scottsmoor, Florida, at The Gray Cottages. Recently, I was surprised to find a copy of the receipt for their room in their papers:

From there, they probably stopped to visit French-Canadian born friends on the way to our mother’s birthplace in Willow Grove, north of Pennsylvania. Most of their time in Canada was  spent in Montreal and a short tour of the northern Laurentides, including Ferme Neuve. On the way back to the States they stopped at some of the tourist sites along the border near Niagara Falls. This trip was the only time that Marian had the opportunity to visit with Blanche, our father’s mother, before her death in December of 1959.

[Slideshow of Honeymoon photos] 

Both are smartly dressed in photos of that lengthy journey. Seeing their outfits in these photos reminds me how much we children loved our mother’s fashionable forties’ clothing. I remember our pleading with her to wear a gold dress with an embroidered knit overskirt and gold strapped sandals that shone. There was also a black dress with a beautiful embroidered collar that set off her pulled-back auburn hair. As the years went by, and the children piled up—especially after the very rough time of the months around our father’s hospitalization for a major coronary thrombosis in 1959—she began to settle for less unless she was dressing for one of the solo vocal engagements she continued to perform for many years. Still, when she’d collect in the neighborhood on behalf of the Polio Society or the American Heart Association—on foot, mind you—she’d get all dressed up, right down to gloves and heels. It was a more elegant time.

Despite the fact that many photos feature the beautiful wedding dress that our mother made for her own wedding, I think I like this photo the best because our grandmother Dawson is in it as well as many of their longtime friends. Although our grandmother Dawson was their only family relative in Miamii, they had many friends over the 30 years they lived there. Their friends were a community that grew out of their love of music and their work in opera, theater and churches. I am surprised by how many I recognize, left to right: The Stockhausens, Paul, Marian, Val La France (behind Marian), Mary Dawson, unknown (behind), Beatrice Patenaude, Joe Zerblus (behind Beatrice and Marguerite), Marguerite (later Dumas), C. W. Garbett (? of the 2623 address), Dana Dumas, unknown (behind). It may have taken Val La France—and a glass of champagne—to get our grandmother into this photo it is so seldom that she is in any photo.

By 1948, our mother and grandmother had apparently continued to reside at the address they first came to in 1945: 234 N. E. Third Street. Our father had lived with roommates in a number of different addresses: 843 S. W. 9th St (Sept 1947-April 1948); 2623 N. W. 23rd Ave (April 1948-June 1948); and 2727 N. W. 27th St (June – August 1948). 

In August 1948 Paul moved to 835 N. E. 88th Street where he and Marian made their first home until Theresa was born in September of 1949. Our grandmother lived with them—during our mother’s first pregnancy—in a room she rented from our parents. As Marian later recollected in her Grandmother’s Memories:

. . . we rented a house in the N. East section [835 N.E. 88th St] and my mother rented a room from us – (while I was “expecting” my first child (Theresa)). After Theresa was born we purchased a small house in the N.W. section of Miami. My mother rented an apartment in the NE section of Miami. She believed that married folks especially when they have small children – should be alone – although she was always available for baby-sitting. It was hard for her, however, if there were more than 1 child at a time – for you see – I was an “only child.”

Pictured in the photo below are possibly friends Marguerite Dumas [née ?] and Helen McGaffigan, organist at Gesu Church in Miami. 

[Slideshow of 835 N.E. 88th]

Not long after Theresa was born, both grandmother and the new family moved to different addresses. Our grandmother moved back downtown to 437 N. E. 29th Street and our parents purchased their first fixer-upper at 1960 N. W. 58th Street, always referred to in family tall tales as “Fifty-eighth Street” where four children were born in quick enough succession that all four remember almost nothing about that home.