How Gary B. and I got Married

Gary B. Cope and I had been dating about a year and a half when he got a letter from Proswood Development, the owner of the Condos he lived in. They had a new development they were selling ownerships in and as a long time renter, 8-9 years, they were offering him $2000.00 toward a down payment. The draw back was it was further out of Salt Lake City and he and I worked in Salt Lake City and most of the bars and clubs we went to were located in downtown Salt Lake.

As we talked about it he said he would like to buy a house and get married. WOW. We had not talked about that. Do you want to live that far out of town? No. You are on the road  lot and where you are the grounds are kept up and there is no up keep to the inside. Where is the down side. ? You say you want to buy a house. Yes but that is down the road. Lets do it now. Now? Yes. So, My son is away at college, My Mother is sick and staying with my sister, out of town, my daughter is away at a girls camp in the mountains, as a counselor and we decide to get married. It is a wonder we have any one who cares about us at all. We are so self absorbed. So we decide to go to a court house and have a judge do it. All the romance of a funeral. I think my sister may have went shopping with me, because I did buy a new summer dress. It was July. My Mother was not at my first wedding either,  my kids say I did not tell them about this one, and we could have waited until the weekend and Kalena would have been home from camp. Or we could have been married at the camp ! Or we could have just waited.

CUT/ About buying a house. I have a friend, she is in real estate, we look at 4-5 houses. He wants a fire place and a garage and down town. I want some age, two or three bedrooms and a small yard.
We can find everything except the garage. Most homes were built before cars, or the garage is very small, or the house is grand with a carriage house and and.

Then we find the one we bought. It was being rented, so he would not go thru the house much, I did, He made sure the bath had a shower and went out the back door into the Garage !! You could fit four cars easy !! No center supports !! Steel I beams !! Cinder block construction, plenty of windows !! You can pull engines in here ! Back in the house. Two bedrooms, bath, large kitchen. Living room dinning room with an arch, 9 foot ceilings, old moldings, 12 inches on floors, 8 inches around doors and windows with corner details. Yes. Small front yard, ample back yard. Well water. Drive way all down one side of house, garage in back yard. Mature plantings. Busy street. Downtown. Brick, shake shingled. ok.

So we are going to move in together and buy a house. He wants to use his GI Loan. Turns out they will not put my name on the title because we are not married. I had been dragging my feet a bit on that, not bringing it up. So.................well I am old enough to know I am not going to help you buy a house if my name is not on it.

So we tell every one we got married so we could buy a house. When you are in your 40's it beats being pregnant !!

I am getting ready to go to the court house and Gary comes to get me. "BY the way Phil is going to be there." What ? I thought we agreed since none of my family was going to be there, no one was going to be there! "Yeah I know, but he showed up at work this morning, with his truck and camper, and followed me, from job to job, until I told him when and where, so  I could get my work done, so I could get off !  I called my friend Sandi. If he was going to have some one so was I. Can you be across town in an hour , to stand up for me? Sure, but I am in my jeans. I don't care, get in your car and come now. OK.

Our wedding pictures show me in a new dress, Gary in a un matched coat and pants, Phil in a dark marring and burring suit and Sandi in jeans and a tee shirt. We are in Phil's camper toasting with paper cups. Then we went downtown to Fat Jack's Bar. They  set up the bar with beer pitchers full of red and white carnations, all down the bar, my dress was red and white. We toasted with champagne and beer. They gave us a large bottle of champagne and flutes. The bar was full of friends. We opened the big bottle and had good pizza. Later we went a few blocks away to a private club, The Saber, and the owners, Tom and Sam cooked us a wonderful steak dinner. And we celebrated with friends there. All in all it was a good day.

When I fill in all the left out parts remind me to tell you about the judge and the story she told us and the bit of a lecture, she felt she had to admonish us, about getting married. That was another interesting tidbit !!








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