I don’t remember very much about Reed and Wanda’s wedding. I suppose I could call Wanda or Reed to verify a few details, but what fun would that be? Besides, they’ve long since gotten a divorce and each of them has re-married, in Reed’s case more than once.

Reed Zellers, of course, is my uncle, three years older than I am, and Wanda Schaeffer was his high school classmate. They did not get married upon graduation, presumably so that Reed could become financially secure. As I recall, he got a job with Delta Airlines and after working there for a couple years (I think he was training to become a pilot, or maybe he did become a pilot), he enlisted in the Army, figuring that was better than getting drafted.

Once in the Army, he entered aviation training at Ft. Wolters, Texas, and became an Army pilot. After that he was sent to Ft. Rucker, Alabama, for training for tactical maneuvers for helicopters.

Finally, he and Wanda could wait no longer, as he was scheduled to be sent to Vietnam, so they planned to get married in December 1967. 

He was given leave to to get married and he drove from Alabama back to Pennsylvania about a week or so before the planned December 30th ceremony. He had stopped off near Pittsburgh, and when he got back into his car, he noticed a sign that encouraged him to fasten his seat belt. This was long before seat belts became mandatory. So he thought, oh, hell, why not. And for the first time in his life he fastened his seat belt.

And a few minutes later his car was involved in a crash.

I don’t know any details other than that his injuries were relatively minor due to the fact that he was wearing his seat belt.

So he made it back to Richland in plenty of time for the wedding.

I was an usher.

This was my first time ushering, although it would not be my last. 

I only recall two things about the wedding and the preparations for it.

Wanda told me that the minister warned her that she shouldn’t use the traditional Wagner “Bridal March” as she walked down the aisle. He said that if she knew the origin of that music, she wouldn’t want to have anything to do with it. She ignored his warning and used it. For the record, I have no idea what he was talking about, but he was a minister, so clearly he was full of whacky, half-baked ideas.

At the reception I caught Wanda’s garter. It was the only wedding where I recall the bride tossing her garter. I still have it.

Here’s the wedding photo.

From left to right that’s my sister Donna, then Mrs. Dawn Bennetch and Miss Marcia Schaeffer (or vice versa, Marcia presumably being Wanda’s sister), then the bride and groom, followed by my uncle Pepper, me, and Willard Blecker (Reed’s cousin). I assume that Willard was the best man and Pepper was the other usher, as I cannot fathom Reed picking Pepper as his best man. The toddlers in the front are John Bennetch and Lori Ann Troutman (no relation that I know of, although John was presumably the son of Mrs. Dawn Bennetch).

Reed went off to Vietnam and that summer both Wanda and I worked in the drug store in Robesonia that my uncle Allen had recently bought. Wanda wrote frequently to Reed and received letters from him in return. I remember adding a paragraph to one of hers, or perhaps I wrote him one myself. 

Note: I got Reed’s Army info from some newspaper clippings, but I wrote about the car crash from memory. It’s the first time in years, decades, that I’ve even remembered that crash, as I began to think about the wedding. But I found a notice that he was discharged from the Memorial Hospital of Bedford County sometime between the 19th and 26th of December. Bedford County is more than a few minutes from Pittsburgh, but it’s still southwestern Pennsylvania, so it’s a bit of confirmation that my memory isn’t totally off.