Mother's Wedding Dress

 

Lieutenant Junior Grade Martha Louise Gabuzda & Ensign Stanley Gibson Cooper were married on 3 June 1949, at 1PM in Annapolis, Maryland, following Stan's graduation from the Annapolis Naval Academy.

My midshipman father, in the autumn of 1947, had minor surgery & flirted with one of his nurses, Ensign Martha Gabuzda. They started dating & were engaged the following year.

I could not remember the colors she described in her wedding dress. I was thrilled to find their wedding announcement in the local newspaper of her hometown, The Standard-Sentinel of Hazelton, Pennsylvania, dated 22 Jul 1949. "The bride wore a daytime dress of light blue lace lined in pink marquisette, & a picture hat of white nylon straw trimmed with nylon veiling & orange blossoms. She wore white accessories, & a corsage of white & pink rosebuds & baby breath."

I remember her telling me that her maid of honor, Jeanne Hartman, had unknowingly picked the same dress, but in different colors. The same article described her dress, "a similar dress of black lace lined in pink, black accessories, & a corsage of gardenias."

They were married by the Reverand Homer W. Koch at the local St. Martin's Evangelical Lutheran Church.

It was attended by the family who also attended Stan's graduation.

Stan's father, Jack Cooper, Stan's paternal aunt, Jinny Cooper Dawes, Stan's mother, Sophie Piña Cooper, with Stan's maternal uncle,  Fred Piña.

Stan's maternal aunt, Piedad Piña Pape, Stan's paternal aunt, Jinny Cooper Dawes, bride, Martha Gabuzda Cooper, Stan's mother, Sophie Piña Cooper, Stan's sister, Margarite Cooper Carl.