Celebrating Anniversaries

Dear Mom, Dad and Ed,

Happy Anniversary! We share June 11th as our wedding anniversary. I do not know exactly you selected the eleventh as the date for your wedding, except that it was a Saturday. I do know part of the motivation. It never seemed to bother Dad that Mom was almost a year older, but it did bother Mom. Each year from June 8th (Dad's birthday) until June 23rd (Mom's birthday) you were the same age.

Charles Newton "Chuck" Cone, Jr. and Betty Lorraine (Werst) Cone
St. Stephen's Cathedral, Portland, Oregon
June 11, 1949
Photograph from author's private collection

Ed's and my motivation for selecting the 11th was much simpler. We were joining perhaps seventy-five U. S. Naval Academy Class of 1971 graduates who would marry in the two weeks following their graduation June 9, 1971. A lottery was held among the classmates and date and time were selected based on what was left when it was your turn. Wedding ceremonies began at 1:00 pm on Wednesday the 9th and continued on the hour in the main chapel and on the half hour in the smaller chapel downstairs. Ed selected 1:00 pm on Friday the 11th. It was an added bonus that it was also my parents wedding anniversary.

From left: Chuck and Betty Cone, Cecily (Cone) Kelly, Edward Kelly, Pauline (Haas) Della Penna and Carmen Della Penna
U. S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland
June 11, 1971
Photograph from author's private collection

June 11th turned out to be an auspicious day to marry. Mom and Dad were married for more that 43 years before his death in 1992. This year Ed and I are celebrating our 44th anniversary.

A very special day for us, after 44 years, 2 children, 2 grandchildren, 8 dogs, 24 moves, living on 3 continents, we are still in love and looking forward to many more anniversaries.

Love,
Cecily