25th Wedding Anniversary

Our 25^th Wedding Anniversary on June 5^th, 1974 was a most interesting celebration. It began on June 3^rd when Elaine and I flew from Washington, D.C. out to Portland, OR via Minneapolis. Elaine’s suitcases failed to arrive which contained new clothing she had purchased for the trip. I was scheduled to speak at an USDA/SCS Management Training session at Bowman Springs, OR the next day which was some 150 miles away. So we rented a car, Elaine wore what she had on, and I made my 2 hour presentation the next day. Elaine was able to buy a dress which got her through the session. That evening several of us drove up to Timberline Lodge for a salmon dinner with snow as much as 25 feet high along the road. I was on the program again the next day and Jim Tatum arranged an Anniversary celebration during social hour which carried over into dinner and dancing. The next day we drove back to Portland, picked up Elaine’s suitcases, visited the SCS and Forest Service Regional Offices and the beautiful Rose Gardens. We left Portland and drove past Multnomah Falls, The Bonneville Dam, Hood River, Walla Walla and on to Dayton, WA. Then through the Palouse country to Steptoe Butte and Spokane for the World’s Fair. Elaine and I demonstrated how to cut through a 20 inch log with a “2-man” saw and I climbed a tree in the Forest Service exhibit. We not only enjoyed the Fair on the banks of the Spokane River but the opportunity to visit old friends, the Scrivners and the Kehnes. When we got home, Carolyn told of someone attempting to break into the house while we were gone. I did give Elaine a ring with an Opal stone for our anniversary which years later was stolen from our Brown Palace Hotel room in Denver, CO. It was a great 25^th Anniversary celebration but in some ways, “Just one damn thing after another”.