THE DOWRY: A REMEMBRANCE: 50TH ANNIVERSARY

By: James F. O’Neil

October 12, 1963: Wedding Day.  I was married.

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:

 

One high fidelity sound system:

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. 

What a sweet car!  I added pink interior lights for wooing. 

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. 

© James F. O’Neil  2013