Celebrating a 73rd wedding anniversary

Today would have been my in-laws 73rd wedding anniversary. 

Earl Lloyd Murphy and Mary Margaret Athya, who both lived in Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio at the time, met at a Warren pizza parlor sometime between 1949 and 1950. They married on January 12, 1951 in what was probably a small, intimate ceremony performed by Rev. William B. Waters, pastor of the Derwood Church in Rockville, Montgomery County, Maryland. More than likely, Earl’s brothers, Raymond and Glenn, who both lived in Montgomery County, attended the wedding. As you can see in the photo below, Mary wore a fitted jacket and skirt popular in the 1950s. The ensemble included a corsage pinned to her jacket lapel. Earl wore a suit jacket with a light color shirt and a tie. After the ceremony, it appears they had drinks and/or dinner at a local eatery.

 

A wedding announcement was published soon after, newspaper and date unknown:

Miss Athya Wed at Rockville, Md.—Mr. and Mrs. George Athya, 1019 Brier Pl. NE, announce the marriage of their daughter Mary to Earl L. Murphy of Littleton, W. Va. The double ring ceremony was performed January 12th by Rev. W. B. Walters [sic] of Rockville, Md. The bride is a graduate of Harding High School. Mr. and Mrs. Murphy are living at Herndon, Va., where the groom is employed by a gas company.

The newspaper article stated theirs was a “double ring ceremony” and in the above photos, you can see both wearing a wedding ring. My husband has no memory of ever seeing his father wearing a wedding ring, nor does he know what happened to Earl’s ring. I do remember that Mary wore one, although it was not her original wedding ring. That would have been the one pictured below and now part of our family treasures. 

 

Earl purchased the original 18K gold wedding ring at Falls Church Jewelers in Falls Church, Virginia, located about 18 miles from Rockville, Maryland. He paid $6.50 for the ring. We found the receipt folded and tucked inside the ring box.

The ring is about the size of a penny and a tad bit larger than my pinkie finger. Mary was always a petite woman, with small hands and fingers. 

At the time of their marriage, Earl was 22 and Mary 21; both lived in Herndon, Fairfax County, Virginia. Earl worked as a pressure operator and Mary was unemployed. Their marriage license recorded Earl as a divorced man when he and Mary wed, something my husband knew nothing about until the early 2000s. For some reason, they chose to keep that information from their children for many years. His first marriage to Zania “Vernell” Tarkenton lasted from December 1948 to August 1950. I wrote about it in 2017, after my husband shared the divorce papers he now has possession of. Click here to read that story.

We celebrated Earl and Mary’s 40th anniversary as a family in January 1991. The next two photos were taken that day.

Mary and Earl

In January 1996, we celebrated their 45th anniversary. Truth be told, Mary had been diagnosed with lung cancer and we did not know what the future held for her. We asked family and friends to share their memories of Earl and Mary and then put a book together with what we received. These photos were taken that day.

Mary and daughter. Family friends in the background.

Mary and Earl. Family friend in the background.

Mary and granddaughter

Earl and his brother Glenn

In January 2001, we had a small celebration for their 50th anniversary that included my husband, our two boys, me, my mother, brother-in-law, and his wife. Mary had survived her bout with lung cancer but now had emphysema. Instead of a party, we all gathered at their house and just spent the day with them. This photo was taken that day.

Mary and Earl

Mary passed away on December 26, 2006, just shy of their 56th anniversary. Earl passed away on January 13, 2015—one day after their anniversary. Like so often happens, was he waiting for that day to arrive and pass before letting go? Only he knows.

References

• Earl L. Murphy and Mary Margaret Athya Marriage License no. 35415, State of Maryland, Montgomery County, 1951.
• U.S. Federal Census, Wheaton, Montgomery County, Maryland, 1950.
• Wedding announcement, publication unknown, 1951.