Two sisters were getting married in a double wedding ceremony on Aug. 23, 1947, in Chicago. As the temperature soared to 96 it became the hottest day on record as the Chicago Tribune stated “there is no relief in sight for Chicago’s record-smashing August heat wave above 94 degrees for the eighth consecutive day.
That evening, with no air conditioning, the two sweating brides, Jeanne and Mary Wilhelms were married to their sweethearts Robert B. Weber and Duncan C. McCune at the 1st Presbyterian Church of Chicago. It was so hot the candles in the church melted. Afterwards they split for separate honeymoons with Bob and Jeanne Weber, my mother and father-in-law, heading to the cooling relief provided by a wedding gift: a free week at cabin 67 on Ramona Lake in Red Feather Lakes.
This Easter they were back in Colorado, visiting their daughter and son in law’s ranch in Livermore.
Bob and Jeanne made the trek back to Red Feather Lakes and were very pleasantly surprised to find their honeymoon cabin still intact, with only a new deck as a change. Bob remembered he had to get the key from Mrs. Wallace, who ran the general store, and gas was a high 28 cents a gallon, but they were grateful there was a place to buy groceries for their week of honeymoon bliss. As a note, the freezing water in Ramona Lake felt refreshing. In this photo we see the happy couple on memory lane in front of the Red Feather Trading Post.
On their way to catch the Denver Zephyr train back to Chicago, Bob got a speeding ticket outside Longmont. An unforgiving cop wrote out a ticket for speeding, which caused them such a delay that Jeanne watched the Zepher pull away as Bob returned the rental car after posting bond. What would have been a 13-hour trip home took to 24 hours on the milk train back to Chicago.
Congratulations to the happy couple on their upcoming 70th anniversary in August from Murry and Linda McMurry and all their family. They now reside in Holland, Mich., and have three daughters, eight grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
Submitted by Murry and Linda McMurry
McMurry Ranch
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