And Pecan Pie for Dessert

And Pecan Pie for Dessert

Noel Laflin

5-2-16

Bob Laflin and Vi Glasrud snuck out of town 74 years ago today, drove over the state line, found a justice of the peace, had the man’s wife stand in as a witness, and got quietly hitched.

 

On the way back from Wisconsin to the small town of Lake City, Minnesota, they stopped at a diner and ordered hamburgers and coffee.  They had pecan pie for dessert.

Only the immediate family was aware of the marriage, as Vi was a high school teacher, and Minnesota law at the time did not allow for married female teachers.  So they stayed mum on the issue for the next four years.

A few weeks after that quiet Wisconsin ceremony, Bob Laflin reported to army boot camp, was promptly shipped off by train to Riverside, California for infantry training, then rode the rails back across the country, boarded a ship out of New York bound for North Africa, and along with a few thousand other GI’s and Brits, chased Field Marshal Rommel around the desert before heading off to the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, and eventually France, Belgium, Luxemburg, and Germany itself.

He addressed all of his correspondence to his wife, by using her maiden name.  They used a secret, prearranged code so she might know where he really was at any given time.  He would send tiny packets of soil, wrapped in cellophane, within many of the letters, so that she could also ‘feel’ for herself the land from which he wrote.

There is so much more that could be said, and perhaps will be when their Diamond Anniversary rolls around at this time a year from now.

Suffice to say for the present, I wish they were still here to celebrate these milestones – but alas, they are celebrating elsewhere no doubt.  And if there is a heaven, I am sure it serves hamburgers, coffee, and pecan pie for dessert - the traditional anniversary dinner we all craved each May 2nd.

I am glad that I listened to some of their tales growing up.  I only regret not having taken notes at the time.

Love you, Mom and Dad.  Happy Anniversary.

 

Can you see this cup of coffee raised in salute?

I just wish that I had a slice of pecan pie to go with it.