Valentine’s Day sparks memories of love stories and weddings    

For many romantics, including some in Tioga County, Valentine’s Day is the day they chose to get engaged or married, or a day to reminisce about their wedding days.

Lila Hall, president of the Candor Senior group, shared that her father, 94-year-old Edward Roberts, and her mother, Florence, were married on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, 1943.  

Lila commented, “Dad said they decided to get married on Valentine’s Day because it fell on a Saturday.”

Today, Edward still lives in the same house that he and Florence had shared since 1945; Florence passed away in 2013.

Something else fell as Valentine’s Day approached that year, a significant amount of snow, which at first worried the bride and groom. 

Lila explained that a town truck plowed just in time for the wedding party to make it on time to the Fairfield Methodist Church, and then returned to plow after the ceremony. Another memory Edward remembered from that blustery Valentine’s Day was a temperature of -10 below zero or colder, and -20 below the following day.

The wedding story of 96-year-old Frieda Rudin Baker of Owego and her husband, Bruce, has an interesting twist. Bruce Baker was actually left wondering if he was “stood up” at the Baptist Church.

What turned out to be an extremely hot summer in 1940, preparing for a reception on July 27 that year at the Rudin Farm included hanging up several fly sticker strips all along the wide front porch ceiling of the farmhouse, with one hung near the front door.

“There were lots of flies on the farm then,” Frieda shared, and added, “We chose July 27 for our wedding because it was a Saturday, and the date was exactly three years to the day that we met.”

All dressed in her gown, just as Frieda passed through the front door, a fly strip latched onto her shoulder and stuck to her veil, which created a sticky, yellow mess. The fly strip left several noticeable marks, so Frieda and her sister quickly scrubbed the delicate fabric.

Back at the church, the signal to play the wedding march had been cued prematurely. By the time Frieda arrived to walk down the aisle, the organist was in the middle of round three of the song.

The Baker’s finally got to say, “I do,” and Frieda chuckled, “Although, Bruce almost left out the back door.”

The reception went on as planned, with Frieda’s family heritage in the spotlight, too. 

Frieda’s father emigrated to the U.S. from Switzerland in 1911, followed by her mother in 1913. The couple spent time in the Midwest before they decided to pursue potato farming in Maine. With four children in tow, the couple, along with a team of horses and one or two cows, boarded a train east. It was a rest stop in Apalachin that changed the Rudin’s history chapter.  Approached by a man at the Apalachin train station who talked up the positive points about farming in Tioga County, the Rudin’s took time to check out farmland, and ultimately chose to plant their roots on Gaskill Road. Frieda, one of ten children, was the first born on the new farm.

Frieda explained that at the reception, all the music played was traditional Swiss, and guests even participated in yodeling.

Looking back on the veil incident, you can say the Baker’s ended up “sticking together” after all, and for 67 years, before Bruce passed away in 2007.

Patricia “Pat” English, of Owego, remembered her courting days with her husband, Arthur “Bud” English. Stationed in England with the U.S. Air Force, Pat and Bud met in London in the early 1950’s at her mother and stepfather’s Bed and Breakfast, a place Bud stayed while on leave.

“Bud asked for permission to take me to the movies, or ‘the pictures’ as we called it,” Pat shared, and explained that she was surprised her father agreed to allow her to go out with the young American.

And the movie they went to see? Pat replied, “’Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,’ with Marilyn Monroe.” 

Pat dated the American serviceman for 13 months before he proposed to his young bride-to-be; they saw each other on weekends when Bud was able to get away from his military duties.

Married in 1955 at St. Mary of the Angels Church in the Paddington District of London, Pat explained that they “were really tied up” since they were officially married twice, once by a priest and then by a Registrar, most likely similar to a Justice of the Peace in the U.S.

Pat, who was born on the Channel Island of Guernsey, laughed, “Some joked with me, being English, that I became ‘Mrs. English’ after marrying an American.”

The newlyweds stayed in England nearly two years, and then relocated to Bud’s native Binghamton along with a seven-month-old son. Shortly after, the family moved to “The Flats” in Owego, closer to Bud’s work at IBM. A second son was born, and later added to the family were four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Bud passed away in 2007. 

Pat said, “We had 52 good years,” and added, “I would do it all again.”