In 1944, when Frankie King married her high school sweetheart, Royce, there wasn’t a wedding dress, let alone a photographer.
The couple had only days to plan their wedding because Royce only had a two-day leave before rushing off overseas for his military deployment.
Royce returned to their small town of Oelwein, Iowa, on his two day leave and married the love of his life before heading to fight in World War II.
“He was stationed as a lieutenant in the Air Force… he just got his pilot wings,” their daughter, Sue Bilodeau, explained. “He got a short leave. They had been engaged about six months, so they decided to have a wedding before he was deployed overseas.”
The couple raised two children over the years and remain happily married to each other.
Frankie and Royce still live in Oelwein while being looked after by a hospice nurse, working for St. Croix Hospice.
On 16 September which was their 77th wedding anniversary the nurse asked Frankie to see photographs from their wedding day.
“And mom said, ‘Well, we don’t have a picture because we actually didn’t have a photographer that day,’” Sue said.
The nurse then took matters working with the other staff members at the St. Croix Hospice to recreate Frankie and Royce’s wedding day. They dressed Frankie in a beautiful wedding gown.
While their wedding day was recreated, Frankie wore a 1940s vintage gown while 98-year-old Royce donned on his Air Force uniform, which is what he also wore when he married his wife seventy years ago...CONTINUE READING