| James McNitt's text |
Bill McNitt's annotations |
|
Finally Lilian's application was approved, and she booked passage on the
Queen Elizabeth. I traveled to New York by train to meet her. It was
possible to obtain a boarding pass, but it meant a long ride down to lower
Manhattan, with the possibility of delay and of missing her as a result.
Instead I stood pressed against a picket fence which separated the people
waiting from the people disembarking. When I saw her coming through the
shed, it seemed obvious she wouldn't see me. "Give me a boost", I
said to the fellow next to me. With his help I hurdled the fence and dashed
to her side. A British attendant yelped "Here, you can't do
that!", but I quickly hugged her and arranged to meet her outside. I
had ruined a good pair of shoes on the fence, but it was worth it.
S.S. Queen Elizabeth; passenger list showing Lilian
Harvey
|
The Queen Elizabeth sailed from Liverpool on Sunday, May 4, and
arrived in New York on Friday, May 9.
|
|
We had reservations at the Hotel
McAlpin, a large place on Herald Square,
34th and Broadway. The next day we had to go to get our license at City
Hall. It was Saturday and the license bureau was to close at noon. We hadn't
allowed enough time, and it was five minutes to twelve when we scampered
breathlessly into the office. When the clerk asked if I had brought a copy
of my divorce, I thought it was all up, as I hadn't thought of it.
Fortunately, she didn't insist, and we received the license.
Hotel McAlpin
|
The former Hotel McAlpin is now an apartment
buiding named Herald Towers. |
|
There would be a mandatory 72-hour waiting period before we could be
married, which would make it Tuesday at the earliest. We started looking
around for a place in which the nuptials could be performed. First we went
to an Episcopal church usually referred to as The Little Church Around The
Corner. It had ties to the world of the theater; many well-known actors and
actresses had been married there. Rev. Randolph Ray let us down gently,
explaining that my divorce prevented our marriage there. He had been forced
to refuse to marry his own daughter for the same reason.
|
|
|
We then went to the
Marble Collegiate Church only about a block away, and made arrangements for
a Tuesday wedding. We could then say that we were married at the church
around the corner from the Church Around The Corner.
Marble Collegiate Church, constructed in 1854
|
View the
history
of Marble Collegiate Church. The current building was constructed in
1854, but the congregation can trace its roots to 1628. |
|
On Tuesday we walked over to the church some five or six blocks from
our hotel, arriving a few minutes late. Although as previously
mentioned, this is the home church for the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale,
we were married in a simple ceremony by one of his assistants, Rev.
Joseph Bowers Palmer. Two custodians signed as witnesses.
Marriage certificate
|
They did not marry on a Tuesday. May 12, 1947
fell on a Monday. |
|
We went to Gimbel's Department Store, across from the hotel, for our wedding
pictures. Lilian was still wearing the camellia which we had picked up
earlier. I noted that the photographer was using a Texaco pencil in writing
down the order. It turned out her husband worked for Texaco on Long Island.
Our wedding dinner was at Schrafft's, one of a well-known chain.
This is the only one of the wedding photographs that I have found so
far. |
|
|
The next day we boarded the train for Michigan. Here, as we started our life
together, I draw my story to a close, with the possibility of adding a few
footnotes later.
Wedding reception for the newlyweds at the Aunts' house
(107 Logan SE, Grand Rapids) soon after their arrival in Michigan. The
third photograph shows Dad's brother Walter,
Dad, Mom, Catherine (Walter's wife), Cecile (Glenn's wife), and Dad's
brother Glenn. The fourth shows the McNitt nephews and nieces at the
reception - Glenn, Walt, Ted, Kay,and Charlene.
Newspaper story about a reception hnoring Mom held
in Muskegon attended by several other British war brides. In
reading the article, please note that Mrs. Swainston has the story of how
Dad and Mom met incorrect - they met in France, not in Wales.
|
When they arrived in Grand Rapids, Dad's
aunts - Myrnie and Leena Merrill - hosted a wedding reception to allow his
family and friends to meet Mom.
Dad and Mom then went on to Muskegon. Soon after arriving
there, Mrs. Beatrice Swainston, who had been born in England, organized a
reception for Mom to wlecome her to America.
|