FAMILY TRADITION
Donald and I were married in Pearisburg, Virginia at the First Methodist Church by Rev. James
E. Hankins. Donald was on a ten-day leave from the Army, and we eloped. So this Baptist girl was
married by a Methodist minister, because the Baptist minister was out-of-town. When we applied
for our marriage license and the clerk asked my place of birth . . . I drew a complete blank. I
looked at Donald for help. He threw up both hands, and said not to ask him because he didn't know. When I finally yelled out to the clerk "Dehue . . . Dehue, that's where I was born," the clerk
peered over his glasses and said, "We're a little nervous, aren't we."
Our first born daughter, Alisha married Jeffrey Allen Gifford on Donald's 44th birthday,
February 23, 1985. Rev. Douglas Synder preformed the ceremony at the Old South Church in
Kirtland, Ohio. They repeated our wedding vows.
Chris Rich, owner of the Brown Barn delights in making weddings work. He directs . . . and
everyone follows. Excuse the pun, but the Davis-Watson wedding went off without a hitch.
The following pictures are of the wedding of our youngest daughter, Heather Diane Davis to
Daniel Jason Watson. The outdoor wedding took place at the Brown Barn at Fowlers Mill on Saturday, June 26, 1999 with the reception immediately following the ceremony. Fourteen years after her sister, Alisha was married, Heather repeated our wedding vows. So, repeating the same wedding vows has become a FAMILY TRADITION.
After the bride and groom dance, and the father-daughter dance we were in for a pleasant
surprise. Chris gave a short history of our elopement, and announced because we didn't get our
first dance Heather wanted us to have one now. Then we danced to Vice Gill singing "Look At Us." I am told there was hardly a dry-eye in the house. I can still hear the lyrics in my mind . . .
Look at you, still pretty as a picture. Look at me still crazy over you. Heather says she would
like to relive that day, and just sit back and watch. So would I.
