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From late 1919 until their June 16, 1921 wed-ding,
visits replaced letters. They were married in
St. Andrews Presbyterian Church. She wore a navy
blue coat-suit, he a business suit. One bridesmaid
and the best man. No reception. Immediately they
boarded their honeymoon train to Washington, D.C.,
Alexandria, and Mount Vernon.
At the Capitol she wrote, “Wilbur tried to get me
to sit in the president’s chair, but I would not do so —
because at that time we had a Republican president.”
They visited his relatives in Maysville, North
Carolina.
“Dear old mother and father. They looked on
this face of mine. They seemed to like it and told
my husband they thought he did a very wise and
intelligent thing by choosing such a girl.”
In 1922 Viola Elizabeth was born. Ten years later
their second child, Helen Blanche, died at age 2. I was born July 9, 1934, at 2004 Pender Avenue. Both parents died here, Daddy
in 1967 and Mother in 1973, and lie in Oakdale Cemetery.
I’ve never fully solved the opening puzzle I posed, except to appreciate deeply that their profound love never ended, and conse-quently
strongly influenced the positive way they prepared me for life.
www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM
How fortunate I am.
This 1918 Valentine was sent from Wilbur Jones Sr. to Viola Elizabeth Murrell.
Below, the couple honeymooned in Washington, D.C., June 1921. The poem
below was written in May 1921.
“Dear I cannot live without you
For life with you is in vain.
Come tell me that you love me
And ease my aching pain.
“Oh! I long for your smiling face
And your merry eyes of blue
To hold you always near me dear
And whisper that my love is true.
“I long for the day to claim you
For the time to call you my own.
We’ll live so happy forever
In a bungalow of our own.”
— Viola WILBUR D. JONES, JR. COLLECTION
RANDALL LIBRARY, UNC WILMINGTON; WILBUR D. JONES FAMILY COLLECTION