Dr. & Mrs. Brian James Larkin

Brian James Larkin and I were married at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City in Our Lady's Chapel on July 9, 1977 in an eleven o'clock Mass.

My godfather Jerry Coleman from Cleveland, a newly ordained married deacon, performed the ceremony. It was his first wedding and I imagine St. Patrick's Cathedral was as exciting to him as to me.

Temperatures reached 94 degrees in the city that day and brownouts followed the next.

I was living in Manhattan at the time and Brian was living in Washington, D.C. So where would you expect us to have met? New York? Washington? Paris? London? Would you believe Morris, Minn.? Where else would a girl from New York meet a boy from Washington except in the corn fields of Minnesota!

My brother Dick and Margaret (Peggy) Egan were married on May 6, 1967 in the Queen of the Rosary Church in Roosevelt, Long Island. I was a bride's maid.

There is a wonderful story here. Peggy had come from Ireland. Her American family knew Dick and decided they were meant for each other. They introduced the two and Dick immediately fell in love with Peggy and proposed. 

Peggy had long planned to return home for a visit. When she got there, her Irish relatives questioned why she would marry such a foreigner (American and with that strange Dutch last name). Dick, who had scarcely been off Long Island in his life, was not about to lose this Irish rose, and went chasing after her. And, as the fairy tale goes, he won the fair maiden's heart -- and hand.

 See The True Story of How Peggy and I Got Engaged

 Mr. & Mrs. John Vander Putten

My brother John and Patricia Smith, were married at the Holy Name of Mary Church, Valley Stream, New York, February 12, 1967.

One week after they were married, the US Army sent John to Vietnam, where he arrived just in time for his 21st birthday. (In fact in passing over the international date line, he may have missed his birthday entirely?) As an MP, John was fairly safe for most of his tour.

However, on Jan. 31, 1968, three weeks before he was scheduled to come home, the Tet Offensive began. The next few weeks were tense and scary for his bride and family. It was to everyone's great joy when John returned on February 20, 1998 -- two days before his 22nd birthday. 

That was a birthday to remember
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Mr. & Mrs. Robert Pollack

My sister Jean and Robert Pollack were married on October 18, 1980 at the Coral House Restaurant in Baldwin NY. 

Jean wore my wedding dress. The necklace she had on was worn by my mother on her wedding day. Most of  the women in our family since have worn the necklace at their weddings, some over the dress and some under. This includes my nieces and my nephews' wives.