Gadding About at My Son's Wedding---29 years ago.

Michael and Meredith's Wedding; The Wedding Party.

I woke up this morning and thought "October 14, Michael and Meredith's Wedding Anniversary".  It prompted me to look back at some photos from that happy day.  So here's a look back to October 14, 1989.

I'm with Meredith, the bride. 

Here I am with Michael, the groom. 

Mom adjusting Michael's tie. 

Michael with his Dad and Best Man. 

Michael feeling faint?

My two sons, Michael and Patrick. 

With the parents. 

Cutting the cake. 

First dance. 

Dancing with Dan. 

Catch the bouquet. 

In the Limo leaving for their honeymoon.  

1989 was a big year for me.  In addition to Michael & Meredith's wedding, Dan and I tied the knot on June 3, 1989, and in December of that year I was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. I'm sad to say that Dan is no longer here, but Michael and Meredith are happily married and have added four wonderful children to their family, and I am a 29 year survivor of breast cancer.  It was fun looking back at this date in 1989. 

How I Met My Husband



June 3, 1989, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Today Dan and I would have celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary.  It's nostalgic to look back at the 43 years since I met Dan.  Folks often ask how we met.  Well, we met on an airplane.  I first heard about Dan Livingstone when I was working on my M.A.T. at Duke University in the summer of 1963.  My professor, Dr. Bailey, told the class about one of his colleagues, Dan Livingstone, who had been attacked by a crocodile a few years earlier (1960 to be exact) and how he and his graduate student escaped.  I never saw/met Dr.Livingstone that summer nor in any of my four summers at Duke.


Later in the early 70s when I was working on my Ph.D. at N.C. State University here in Raleigh I was taking an ecology course and some of Dan's publications were assigned reading.  I thought, oh that's the fellow at Duke who escaped from the crocodile.


In the summer of 1973, I was attending the International Biological Congress in Boulder, Colorado, and was flying out of RDU heading to OHare in Chicago and later on to Boulder.  These were the days before assigned seats, and the plane wasn't very full.  I was sitting in a middle seat, with someone next to me in the window seat, when this gentleman sat down beside me in the aisle seat.  After we were airborne, I took out my program for the Boulder meeting to peruse, and this gentleman in the aisle seat looked over and said "Oh, you're going to the same meeting I am.  "I'm Dan Livingstone from Duke University."  My first comment to him was "Oh, you are the fellow who escaped from the crocodile!".  So it was ten years after I had first heard of this guy that I finally met him.


I had just finished my Ph.D. at N.C. State and had worked on a systematic study of grasses for my dissertation.  Dan told me about his work studying pollen in the sediments he had taken from African lakes and how there were grass cuticles (leaves) in the mud, and he wondered if they could be useful in reconstructing the past vegetation and thus the past climate of Africa.  It seemed like an intriguing possibility.


Later that fall Dan invited me over to Duke to take a look at the grass leaves in his lake sediments, and sure enough when you looked at these fossil leaves with a scanning electron microscope, you could see microscopic features on the leaves that made them identifiable.  By the next summer he and I had submitted a grant proposal to the National Science Foundation to get money to support me in the summers to do research in the lab there.  Sixteen years later after a long friendship and many years working together in the lab, we were married.  And the rest is history, and I might add what a wonderful history it was. 


Dan passed away in March of this year, and his death has left a huge hole in my heart, but I have wonderful memories that will comfort me  for the rest of my life.

June 3, 1989 in Halifax, Nova Scotia on our wedding day.

 Happy Anniversary my dearest Dan, I wish you were here.

I knew when I met you an adventure was going to happen. ~ Winnie the Pooh

Our wedding announcement.

When I was a graduate student at Duke in the summer of 1964, I heard about one of their professors, Dan Livingstone, who had survived a crocodile attack while working on a lake in Africa.  Later in the early 1970s as a graduate student at NC State, I had read papers by this Dr. Livingstone.  However, it was not until 1973 that I finally met this renowned biologist.

Dan the day after the crocodile attack.  (Photo courtesy of Joe Richardson).

 I was on a plane departing RDU for an International Biological Congress in Boulder.  This was before assigned seats, and this charming man sat down beside me.  After we were airborne, I took out my program for the meeting and was leafing through it.  This man next to me looked over and said, "Oh, I am going to be one of the speakers at this meeting.  I'm Dan Livingstone from Duke."  And I said, "Oh you are the guy who escaped the crocodile!."  That is how we met.

In 1989, we were married.  We had planned to get married in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  We thought we could just go down to City Hall and get a marriage license and be married by a Justice of the Peace.  But no, it was June and they were completely booked.  Furthermore the Public Gardens our second choice for a ceremony were also booked.   There was some kind of meeting for ministers in the area and the only minister we could find who was available to perform the ceremony was the Associate Minister of the Unitarian Church who happened to be expecting her first child any day (otherwise she would have been off at this meeting).  Yes, we were married by a pregnant minister.

The ceremony was held in the beautiful garden of one of Dan's friends, Roger Doyle, in Halifax, with just a few family and friends in attendance.   The garden was abloom with lilacs at the time.

The ceremony.

As something old, I wore a white shawl that my mother had made over my navy and white dress.  It is a bit cool in Halifax in June.  I wasn't one to wear hats at the time, but I had found a pretty white hat, and I adorned it with a navy ribbon around the band.  

"You may kiss the bride."

The happy couple---married.

After the noon ceremony, we all went down to the Athens Restaurant on Quinpool Road in Halifax for a luncheon.  Great food and a wedding cake.

Cutting the cake. 

Yes, it has really been an adventure these last twenty-five years.  We're still a  happy couple who love each other very much.

Happy Anniversary to Bea and Wayne

Commerative wedding plate made by Westmoore Pottery as our gift to Bea and Wayne.

Bea and Wayne Kearney are celebrating their 9th wedding anniversary today.  Happy Anniversary you two. Bea has been our long-time friend and housekeeper for many years. I first met Bea when she kept the offices (including my office),  classrooms, and laboratories in the Franklin Science Building at Louisburg College in ship-shape condition.  And for many years we have depended on her to keep our house in order.  I don't know what I would do without our weekly visits from Bea.

In 2003 Bea married Wayne in a beautiful ceremony in Louisburg.  Dan and I are as fond of Wayne as we are of Bea.  They are a great couple.  Here are some photos from their wedding.

Beautiful Bea.

 I've always told Bea that she looks like Queen Nefertiti.  Look at those beautiful high cheek bones.

Wayne and Bea, the happy couple.

The Wedding Party.

Arriving at Reception.

Mr. and Mrs. Kearney at the head table at the reception.

Happy Anniversary to you and may you have many more happy years together.

Happy 22nd Anniversary to Michael and Meredith

Michael and his bride Meredith, October 14, 1989

Twenty-two years ago, I gained a beautiful daughter.  Congratulations to son Michael and his bride Meredith on their wedding anniversary.  A happy event.

I'm fixing my son's tie.

My two sons.  Michael and his brother Patrick.

The wedding party.

Dancing with my husband Dan at the reception.

Michael and Meredith leaving the reception for their honeymoon.