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Tuesday, December 25, 2007
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Making it a 'marry' Christmas wasn't easy
Associate Editor Chuck and Doris Ulrich will celebrate both Christmas and their 50th wedding anniversary in the comfort of their Baxter home Tuesday. The celebration is bound to be more relaxed than their hastily arranged wedding day of Dec. 25, 1957.
Chuck Ulrich, who worked for years for the Minnesota Department of Revenue, dropped by the Brainerd Dispatch office and recounted the story last week.
He was a student at the University of Minnesota when he and the former Doris Markuson traveled to Ipswich, S.D., to meet her parents. On their way there, Chuck said, his wife mentioned that there was a justice of the peace in Webster, S.D., who could marry couples on short notice.
"I didn't have the heart to say no," Chuck said.
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Chuck and Doris Ulrich faced all sorts of obstacles when they decided to get married at the spur of the moment 50 years ago on Dec. 25, 1957.
» Purchase reprints of this photo.
Brainerd Dispatch/ Steve Kohls
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Deciding to get married was one thing. Making the arrangements on Christmas Day was another.
The first step was to find the justice of the peace on Christmas Day. Next they had to find the clerk of court and convince him to open up the courthouse and give them a wedding license. The couple made phone calls through a local operator who tipped them off that the clerk of court was at his brother's house in a neighboring town. When contacted, the official said he'd open up the office but they'd have to wait until 7:30 p.m.
The young couple - he was 21 and she was 24 - also needed a blood test. They tracked down a hospital employee who turned down Chuck's initial request but relented when his fiancee, whom he described as a people person, convinced a lab technician that the marriage was not being arranged because she was pregnant. She emphatically told the hospital employee that "absolutely" wasn't the case.
Waiting for the man to open the courthouse was a bit uncomfortable since they had no place to stay. They couldn't run the car continuously because they had only a limited amount of fuel. They camped out in the lobby of a hotel that was open but were asked to quit loitering after a few hours there.
Finally, armed with a blood test they met the clerk of court at the courthouse but they had no extra money to pay for the license. The kind-hearted bureaucrat said they could stop by after Christmas and pay the fee.
It was 8 or 9 p.m. by the time they arrived at the home of the justice of the peace. The scene, as Chuck recalled it, was one of typical holiday chaos. Kids were running around the house. ÒGunsmokeÓ was playing on the television. Finally, the couple was married.
After all the delays they didnÕt arrive at his wifeÕs familyÕs home until about 1 a.m. the next day. They broke the news to her family at breakfast.
Fifty years later the couple can look back on a long marriage and the raising of four children. Chuck described their Christmas Day marriage as a spur of the moment decision that he never regretted.
ÒWeÕve had our tough times too, but we wanted to work at it,Ó he said.
And what advice would the couple give to young people contemplating marriage?
ÒMy dad told us you have to work on your marriage every day,Ó Doris said. ÒYou donÕt just take it for granted.Ó
ChuckÕs advice was similar.
ÒWell, the first step is to consider that youÕre in the wrong on something and give each other some leeway,Ó he said.
MIKE OÕROURKE may be reached at mike.orourke@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5860.
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