Bob and Joyce, part II

After the ceremony, grandma Joyce's parents hosted a brunch at their house as a wedding reception.

The bridal party, maybe in the kitchen. A few things jump out as details. The cactus on the middle shelf to the left might be the Christmas cactus that my grandma has, and that I ned to get a start from. The girls kept their fake gloves on, as well as the little caps. Although the table cloth is lace, check out the table leg! 1950's aluminum, maybe? And the chairs to match? I wonder where the set is now? And check out the argyle socks the groomsmen are wearing! And my grandpa Bob, sitting to the left of my grandmother (right in the picture); so damn handsome!

My grandparent's parents are in this photo. The taller lady to the left is my great grandmother Kate Becker Heitstuman. She married a blacksmith in the 19teens, had my grandpa Bob in the 1920's, and was widowed in the 1940's after having 11 (or was it 13) children. Her oldest son Tom was killed in France in 1944, and is buried at the Epinal cemetery. By the time this photo was taken, I suspect she'd been a widow as long as she'd been a wife. My mom remembers her as a classy lady, who spent money very carefully, frugally, and cautiously, but well. She died at 94 years old in 1983.

My grandma's parents are to the right; Gen and Leo Druffel. She loved to swim, although that trait did not get passed along to her daugter. Gen had a stroke in her 50's, and Leo was exceptionally, maybe too, patient in helping her after that. He was a farmer, who was gregarious and gracious, and later in life lost a leg to diabetes. He'd putter around Colton in a golf cart, and my parents lived with him for a bit while dad was going to grad school at Washington State in the late 1970's. One day, as my dad lay under the sink trying to fix a drip, Leo famously told my dad: "Mike, you should quit going to school and get a real job like becoming a plumber!"

The details in the photo: the ladie's corsages, his tie, the pointed arch, the scalloped edges of the plates. What are they eating?  Who did the cooking?