John L. Eliel

The story ahead is a good reminder to us all as we pivot, mid-pandemic, in order to learn a new way of honoring our loved ones. In early spring of 1944, a wedding was being planned in Pasadena, California for a 20-year-old Montana bride and her 20-year-old Air Force fiancé stationed in Arkansas. Grandma Betty, Dad's mother, was spearheading the wedding plans and "doing it up right" when word came that he could not get enough leave to get to California and back in time to participate in his own wedding. These were two wartime generations, by now accustomed to making personal sacrifices for the greater good in the form of rations, enlistments, and inconveniences minor and major. So although a disappointment (especially to the mother of the groom), this glitch in the plans did not deter them or erode their spirits. The Eliels and the Hirschys packed up silver, linen, and heels and hightailed it to Little Rock, where on March 17th the knot was tied and a fate forever sealed. A fate that, by the way, worked out pretty well for all.