Shine On Harvest Moon - Updated (again) for a Special Anniversary

UPDATE, May 16, 2023: Now today it would be my parents' 81st wedding Anniversary!  I have nothing more new to add to that, so I will just repost what I wrote last year with all of the previous information. Many of you may have already read this last year, but still there are some newcomers who haven't seen it yet, so in honor and memory of my dear parents, here's their story once again:

UPDATE, May 16, 2022:

I woke up this morning and realized that today would be my parents' 80th wedding anniversary! They were married on May 16th, 1942.  This was their wedding picture. 

Of course, they've both long been celebrating in heaven, Mama left this earth in 2006, and Daddy in 2011.  They were just 9 days short of celebrating their 64th anniversary when Mama passed away.  

This old newspaper clipping was discovered through my genealogy research.

And this picture was taken at my paternal Grandparents' home in Crafton, PA.,   probably around the time my parents got engaged.

L to R (front row) my Aunt Ruth, my mother Dorothea, my Aunt Marion, and my Grandmother Elva.

L to R (Back row) My Grandpa William H. Mursch, my Dad William F. Mursch, and my uncle Paul G. Mursch.  circa 1941? 

And here is my family in 2005, the year before my mother passed away:

Front: Mom and Dad

Back: my brother Russell, me, my brother Clifford, and my sister Doris

Our family in 2005 (most of them).

The majority of our Mursch family in 2018

And again in October 2019, at the celebration of life for our brother Russell. (RIP 4/29/2019)

Now here is the original story that I shared with you a couple of years ago (10/12/2020) about how my parents met, etc.

If you've followed me for very long you have already been made familiar with my little log cabin birdhouse that was built years ago by my son for my Dad.  HERE is a link to the original story.  That story was about "Christmas at the Cabin", but I was bored this weekend and thought to myself, "Why not have Autumn at the Cabin?  After all, if I recall my parents' love story correctly, it was autumn when they first met at the cabin.  (See their wedding picture in the photo below)

The story goes that my mother had met my father's sister Marion at the street car stop near Pittsburgh, PA., where they were both working as secretaries downtown.  They struck up a quick friendship and enjoyed getting to know each other as they rode to and from work each day on the street car.  My mother told her new friend how much she wanted to marry a farmer and be a farmer's wife some day.  Well, Marion told my mother that she knew just the young man for her! Her brother was studying soil conservation and agriculture at Penn State, and when he finished his studies he was going to have a farm!  And so it was determined that my mother would go with Marion up to their family vacation cabin in Cook's Forest for the weekend and meet her brother Bill.

My father said that when he first saw my mother coming across the field with his sister to meet him, he knew that she was the girl he wanted to marry! He hadn't even met her yet!

The story goes that they walked and talked all evening and most of the night long, for there was a big old harvest moon shining up in the sky, and they fell in love under the "harvest moon".

In the following years every so often they would sing this song in remembrance of that first night they met:

Shine On, Shine On Harvest Moon

The night was mighty dark so you could hardly see

For the moon refused to shine

Couple sitting underneath the willow tree

For love, they pined

Little May was kinda 'fraid of darkness

So she says "I guess I'll go."

Boy began to sigh, looked up to the sky

Told the sky his little tale of woe

So shine on

Shine on harvest moon

Up in the sky

I ain't had no lovin' since January, February, June or July

Snow time ain't no time to stay outdoors and spoon

So shine on

Shine on harvest moon for me and my gal

Snow time ain't no time to stay outdoors and spoon

So shine on

Shine on harvest moon for me and my gal

And so they courted for a while and when he finished his studies at college they got married and went to live on a farm where he had gotten a job as the farm manager.  

This picture was taken at their first farm in Mercer, PA. (circa 1943?) This is a rare occasion when both of my parents' families were together. My mother is not in this picture for some reason. I'm thinking she probably took the picture and was most likely expecting her first baby and didn't want her picture taken. But I love that both sets of my grandparents are in this picture.

L to R Front: my cousin Bill Moss, Uncle Ed Moss, Grandpa Benton F. Tedlie, Grandma Flora Sheets Tedlie, Grandma Elva (Sowers) Hill Mursch, Cousin Edson Moss

L to R Back: my Aunt Margie (Tedlie) Moss, Aunt Marion Mursch (Ryder), Grandpa William H. Mursch, my Dad William Fred Mursch, my Aunt Ruth Mursch (Gammie), and a friend that I do not know.

That was good for a few years, and right away the babies started coming along, one, two, and three all within a few years time.  Then he had the opportunity to go into a partnership with a gentleman who would finance a farm for him and my dad would jointly own the farm and do the actual farming. (This farm was in Clarion, PA). The other man was an attorney, but he loved farming and would come out and help on the weekends as often as he could.  A few years later another child would be born...me! My mother was loving being a farmer's wife and all was grand. 

Our family on Easter at my Aunt Audrey and Uncle Paul's farm, which was not far from our farm.

And again, our young family:

L to R: Russell, Clifford, Doris and Pam (me)  circa 1953

But then in a few years (early 1950's) times were getting difficult for farming. You either had to go big or get out.  They really didn't have the means to "go big", and so it was decided to sell the farm and we moved to Florida when I was almost six years old. It was a sad day when we sold the farm and packed up our belongings that we could take with us and moved away from our beloved horses, cows, chickens, our dog Laddie, and our cats.  My mother really didn't want to leave the farm and especially didn't especially want to move to Florida, but being the loving and obedient wife, she made the most of it.  Our family settled into Florida pretty well...and my dad built a beautiful home (Click HERE for more about that house) where we lived happily ever after. My parents both were able to live in their home until they passed away five years apart, and then the house was sold, and my parents are together again in heaven, where they say there is no need for the sun or the moon, but I bet they still love to sing that song and dance in the fields of heaven together now and then. 

Here's a close up of my mom and dad on their wedding day:

And here is what I call their heavenly picture, because it just looks like they are smiling down at us from heaven. This picture was taken for their 60th wedding anniversary, just four years before Mom would enter heaven, and Daddy five years after her.

"Shine on, shine on harvest moon, for me and my gal"

Addendum:

Here is a picture of my Mom at the cabin in 1976, when they went back to visit relatives in PA.  My grandparents sold the cabin when they retired and moved to Florida in the 1950's.  However, the new owners kept it pretty much exactly the way my grandparents had left it, with the exception they added indoor plumbing and a bathroom.  

For my parents' 50th anniversary in 1992 our whole family went back to PA for a family reunion at my uncle's home, which was near the cabin and also near our old farm.  The new owners of the cabin very graciously allowed our family to tour the old cabin and hear my Dad share the story of how he and his dad built the cabin when my dad was a teenager. It was their family vacation home for many years while they still lived in the Pittsburgh area, which made for a happy fresh air escape from the noise and soot of the big city back in the day. I have an old video movie of our visit there. I wish I could somehow condense it to play it here some way. It was a wonderful time together for us all to hear the story again of how my parents met and fell in love at this cabin.

But here is a little highlight of our visit to the cabin that day in 1992.  My Dad is showing off and and trying to balance himself on the rock that sits next to the driveway to the cabin, which says "Pinoke Lodge". That is the same rock my grandparents put there when they built the cabin, and somewhere there is a picture of my grandfather standing on that rock just the same way. I wish I had it.  

This is a real treasure: L to R: (Front): My Aunt Marion, (who introduced my parents) (Back): My mother and my Aunt Ruth, (Daddy's little sister)

This picture was taken on that same rock not long after my parents met

And here is our family, standing in front of the cabin in 1992:

L to R: Daddy, Mama, Russell, Clifford, Doris and Pam (me).

I hope you have enjoyed this little walk down memory lane to the cabin with me. 

 5/16/2023:  Happy Heavenly 80th  81st Anniversary to my parents!  And even though you may have already seen this picture on a recent post for Mother's Day, I am adding it here again so it becomes a part of this family "record" for the future.    I just love this picture so much, I can't seem to get enough of looking at it.  It makes me happy and a little sad at the same time. We were all so young and innocent and healthy and happy then. It was a very happy time. This picture also includes our doggie Laddie, who I loved so very much.  I am very thankful for this family that God placed me in!

L to R: Clifford, Russell, Laddie, Mama, Doris, Daddy and me!