THE DOWRY: A REMEMBRANCE: 50TH ANNIVERSARY
By: James F. O’Neil
October 12, 1963: Wedding Day. I was married.
OCTOBER THEN
With my new bride came her dowry: the gifts to her new husband to help get the household started.
One 1962 Corvair, white, four-door with red leather interior:
IT’S A CORVAIR
One high fidelity sound system:
HI-FI-CABINET
The hi-fi was a large piece of furniture that cleverly concealed four speakers, an AM-FM radio, and a phonograph turntable. All this hid beneath a lift-up top and behind decorative grill/lattice-work. Two sliding doors even concealed a record storage cabinet that could hold thirty or so LP records (“hi-fi” records with dynamic sound, or the latest LPs, a.k.a. “stereophonic”).
One wedding picture from 1963 shows us leaving the church in a black ’57 Olds 98 four-door hardtop, with white leather interior.
WEDDING GOOD-BYE
What a sweet car! I added pink interior lights for wooing.
COURTSHIP MACHINE 1957 IN 1963
The courtship Rocket-Powered Olds brought me love–and a French provincial hi-fi. What a dowry!
I got the Corvair.
My family got a daughter-in-law, and the Olds.
OCTOBER NOW
© James F. O’Neil 2013
