Newton-Hall Wedding

The year was 1937 and at age 19, Bill met 18 year-old Frances at her boarding house in Atlanta, Georgia. Bill remembers, "she lived at Ponce de Leon ... 9 4 7." At the time, Frances worked as a stenographer at Westinghouse Manufacturing Company and Bill worked as a salesman at Sears Roebuck. They first met after Bill had finished playing a tennis match with his friend. Dripping with sweat he asked Frances on a date for that night and she hesitated to commit. When he presented himself after a quick trip to his apartment, just two blocks away, to shower and shave, she quickly told him "I'll get my coat!" She called it "love at second sight." That night Bill took Frances to the Motorcycle races in Columbus, Georgia. On their second date Bill asked Frances to marry him while they were sitting on a stone fence near the boarding house. She said, "YES!" The two courted for a couple of years before actually marrying. The official announcement was made in the Society section of The Fitzgerald Herald on April 11, 1939.

A luncheon shower was given in honor of Frances on the Thursday before her wedding.

A rehearsal party was held for the couple on Saturday, April 29, 1939.

Prior to the 2:30pm wedding on Sunday, the out of town guests and family enjoyed a luncheon at the Seagraves home (Margaret Julia Burney Newton's best friend).

The wedding ceremony was held at the Methodist Church in Fitzgerald, Georgia. Frances wore a beige dress while Bill strutted (no doubt) in a dark green suit to compliment, per her request. Bill recalls he had difficulty locating a dark green suit, but found on in Purcell's in Orlando.

The newlyweds left straight from the church to move to Orlando, stopping Palatka to pick up Bill's good buddy, Swilley. An overnight stay at the Satsuma Hotel was the extent of their honeymoon as Bill was required to work the following day at Butler's Shoe Store on 3 North Orange Avenue. (It amazes me that my grandfather can remember every address known to man, but what seem like some of the most obvious memories get all jumbled up).