9/19/10
My Mother's birthday was two days ago. She has been gone for over twenty years but I still miss her and think about her often. So here is a story about my Mom and a dress.
My parents met in Florida at the Pensacola Naval Base during WWII. Dad was in the Navy and Mom was working on the base. My mother was a great beauty and had many suitors.
The story of how he wooed and won her is a great one, but not the one I want to tell today. They were married as the war was ending and went to live in Dad’s hometown of Dayton, Ohio when he returned to civilian life.
In that civilian life my father was in the clothing trade. He was always dressed to perfection as it was his business and my mother was happy to play her part in maintaining a current stylish wardrobe of her own. She read the fashion magazines of the day and saw a stunning dress on the cover of one. She asked my father to see about purchasing it on his next business trip to NYC.
He contacted the designer and was told the dress was never actually made. It had literally been pinned together on the model for the magazine shot. My father persuaded the designer to make one dress for my mother, a special token of his love for her.
Shortly thereafter they took a vacation in Florida and Mom had an occasion to wear the gown at a gala event in Boca Raton. A photographer snapped her picture as she gazed into a large mirror in the lobby of the grand hotel. This picture has hung in my parents home ever since.
