A Legacy of Love

What follows is the transcript for an oral interview that Andy and I conducted with my great-grandparents on the subject of love and marriage, completed in celebration of our wedding last September...


Edna and Delmont Meader
June 16, 2007
Married: December 7, 1935

Edna: We’ve been married a long time… that’s for sure.
Katie: Yes, you have. How long has it been?
Edna: 71 years.
Katie: How did the two of you meet?
Edna: High school. We both went to the same high school. He used to give me a ride because I boarded on the way from his home to school, so he’d pick me up. And that’s how we got acquainted.
Del: She lived about – boarded about – halfway between where I lived and the school. She knew I had a horse and carriage, and she knew just about when I’d be coming by so she’d come out and start walking along the road. The first year, she’d look out and I’d look out… by the second year, we were both looking in [at each other]!
Katie: How long were the two of you dating?
Edna: Five years…. That’s how long we knew each other.
Katie: When did you guys decide that this was it… that you wanted to spend 71 years together?
Edna: Well… my mother was sickly all my life. I can’t remember when she was well. So I had to stay home to take care of her a lot, and he was around a lot to help me and we just stuck together. I decided that I wanted him around for good.
Katie: How did you guys become engaged?
Edna: My mother always said, “I never had a diamond. And I don’t want you to get married without a diamond.” So I got a diamond. She was very determined. She was on her deathbed and she said, “I want you to get married and have a diamond, ‘cause I never did!” I can just hear her now.
Katie: And I bet she made sure Gramp was in the room for that!
Edna (to Del): Did you know you had to give me a diamond?
Del: I knew when you told me so!
Katie: How long were you guys engaged before you got married?
Del: Two or three months, something like that.
Edna: It wasn’t long, I know that much!
Katie: Wedding planning then was a bit different than it is now.
Edna: We were married in my living room, where my father and mother lived, ‘cause mother was so sickly, she couldn’t travel. They did have her out in the room when the ceremony was performed. It was a lot different then than it is now. But we lasted…
Katie: Do you have any particularly vivid memories from your wedding day?
Edna: I remember we had to go back after the flowers!
Del: We had just a small, family wedding – her parents, my parents… my brother was the best man and her sister was the bridesmaid. That’s all we had for a wedding party. I had a sister in law that came and –
Edna: Louis came… she was a good friend of ours.
Del: Oh, yes, she played the piano, didn’t she?
Edna. Yes, that’s right. She played the piano while we came down the stairs and she served the refreshments. Made most of ‘em.
Katie: Let’s see… what else…
Del: We went to Fairfield (Maine) on our honeymoon.
Edna: [Laughs]
Katie: You went to Fairfield on your honeymoon?
Edna: Yes, we did. And milked the cows in between!
Del: I was working up there. I delivered spring water… part of my job was – two or three days a week – to deliver spring water all around the Waterville/Skowhegan area. 5-gallon jugs… I’d deliver them around to various businesses, in some places I’d have to take them and lug them up several flights of stairs. So we were married, and we went to Fairfield to stay with her aunt, and each day I had to go to work. And that was our honeymoon. We didn’t really have a honeymoon until we had our 50th Anniversary.
Katie: So that’s how you made it through the first 50 years? Just had to get to that honeymoon!
Del: Ayuh. We ended up going to Hawaii.
Edna: Grampa only made five dollars a week then.
Del: Five dollars a week plus my board. I stayed most of the time at work. She was living with her father and mother. I drove back at forth for the first 6 months of our marriage. We were married a year and a half before we lived together on our own.
Katie: Some people say that the first year of marriage is the most challenging. Do you think that’s true? How do you remember that first year?
Edna: The hardest part was that my mother was very sick, so I had to stay right at home. We couldn’t celebrate getting married.
Katie: What challenges have you faced as a married couple?
Edna: Making a living!
Del: Well, I don’t know if we’ve had too many challenges.
Edna: We’ve had a pretty good life. We’ve said so many times.
Katie: How about some of the happier moments?
Edna: We’ve got a lot of them! We’ve done a lot of traveling. We were able to do just about anything we wanted to for many years. We’ve both worked and made good money – good money for then. We’ve had a good life.
Katie: Andy and I are looking to start our 70 years together soon… what is a piece of advice that you guys could give us as we set out on this journey?
Edna: Don’t be pigheaded! Give in!
Del: I asked my father about the secret to being married this long, and he said “Outdoor Living.” I asked what he meant by that and he said, “When I got married I vowed that if the wife and I ever got in an argument, I’d go outdoors. Well, I’ve spent most of my life outdoors!”
Del: You asked what we would do differently if we could do it all over again. We wouldn’t do anything different… just more of it.
Andy: When were you two married? I’m not sure I know that.
Del: December 7, 1935. 6 years later the Japanese sent up fireworks to celebrate our anniversary!
Katie: How old were you when you were married?
Edna: He was 21 and I was just about to turn 19 years old.
Andy (to Del): When did you know that she was the one for you?
Del: Well, I always say, “She chased me until I caught her!”
Katie: [Laughing] Well, I’m very glad that you caught her. So many happy memories.

My great-grandmother, Edna Meader, passed away at the age of 91 on Friday, February 29. She will be dearly missed.