The Wedding

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Our wedding story by Dora Bowers

Downtown Canon City Canon City CO Photo Album

After graduation from High School, Ivan went to Nevada to work, and I stayed in Canon City and clerked at a jewelry store downtown.

Early that spring he came home for a visit, and my boss at the store let me take a break every day at three at the Wildwood Malt Shop on Main Street. In the evenings, we sashayed out to dances, laughed at movies like, “Our Gang,” and climbed WMCA peak west of Skyline Drive. 

Skyline Theater Canon City Photo Album

 Ivan had proposed and I had accepted, but first, he had to go back to Lovelock to make sure he still had his job. I was to join him in a few weeks. He rode back with his uncle Glen and his wife, Lucille. They lived in Reno but had been visiting his family in Canon City. He was only gone a week when I got a telegram saying, “Do nothing definitely STOP have lost my job STOP”. I cried and cried because I thought it meant he had changed his mind and didn’t want to marry me after all. 

I moped for a week or so and then, wonder of wonders another telegram came saying he had found a new job at Safeway (one of the first super market chains in existence.) He had $80.00 in reserve and sent me $20.00 for a wedding ring which I bought at the jewelry store where I worked. It was rose-gold and had three tiny hearts in a row each containing a diamond chip at my request. 

In a flurry of getting ready Mother and I rushed to Pueblo to shop. My wedding dress was a long, white voile with delicate pastel flowers. Mother paid $5.00 for a trunk and I got an ashes-of-roses, flowered rayon dress to wear for best. Because it was such good quality, it cost $3.98. 

The last of my savings from the $8.00 I made each week allowed me to outfit myself for the trip on the first Trailways bus ever to leave Canon City. The bus ticket cost another $20.00 of Ivan’s savings. On the trip, I wore a gray suit, yellow blouse, gray high heeled shoes, and a matching clutch purse. A new Bulova watch circled my wrist. The trip took twelve hours and 53 minutes. I kept the beautiful Rocky Mountain range in sight as long as I could and after that,the scenery gradually turned into a desert. I thought I would never arrive, but eventually,we pulled into the mining town where Ivan worked. As I stepped offthe busand crossed the intersection I saw Ivan and whistled two notes to gain his attention. That particular whistle became our family signal and has been passed down to our children, grandchildren, andgreat-grandchildren. 

Lovelock, NV County Courthouse, Lovelock Photo Album

Since it was Ivan’s lunch hour, we went to, “The Chinaman’s.” I had Pork Noodles with fresh green onions on top. That evening, another $20 went for a round trip ticket to Reno where we stayed with Glen and Lucille in separate bedrooms overnight. 

                  To be continued

DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn.  She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”