My parents were married at Sacred Heart Church in Vineland, the church my ancestors helped to build (both the original Sacred Heart as well as the "new" Sacred Heart, that is). My grandmother's side was from St. Mary's Malaga northern Italian "cousin," the East Vineland St. Mary's. (Apparently, they used virtually identical blueprints for both St. Mary's churches.) Anyway, my mother went all through Sacred Heart grade school and high school way back when it was...well, back when there were habited religious sisters teaching there.
My mom died back in 2000 just after she turned 50 following a long, long, long battle with cancer, and my father has recently remarried. He let me borrow the wedding album awhile back to scan in these pictures of their wedding day. As you can see, they were clearly awesome! This was back in 1974, the height of blue eyeshadow, side burns, chunky heels, and general awesomeness all around.
On a serious note, it is nothing short of a complete and utter travesty that the bishop wants this beautiful church, every bit as beautiful and comparable in size as the cathedral in Camden, closed. It is totally unnecessary. This is the sort of thing that devastates people and drives them from the Faith in complete disgust, mistrust, disbelief. But hey, I guess it looks too...Catholic. Time to make way for the generic McMegachurch. Change the mass, change the church, change the religion. And hey, St. Isidore's has got plenty of land behind it...
This is my beautiful mother. As you can see, she liked wildflowers
so it was very appropriate that she chose daisies for her bouquet.
The confusing part about this picture is, if that's my mom in the
foreground sporting the blue eyeshadow and faux Victorian
dress, who's that chick standing next to my dad at the altar?!
Super duper special effects! Those were the fabulous 70's!
Here you see my wonderful grandparents. I love them. My
grandmother, the one in the blue dress, was a school teacher
way back in the days of the one-room schoolhouse. And yes, she
had strawberry blonde hair and green eyes and yes she was
100% Italian. My grandfather owned DeMarchi Printing on West Ave.
They came from large farm families. Great ravioli and pizzelle,
among other things. My dad is on the left with his dad standing
behind him. Check out my dad's platform shoes and lambchops.
Whoa! Standing in the center of the photo is one of my grandfather's
sisters. A wonderful woman, she passed away only last year.
This is a nice view of the church from the choir loft. I remember
going to Sacred Heart with my grandparents for mass. We'd always
sit on the left hand side (not pictured above, but below).
Here you can see my dad's mustache and ruffly shirt. Standing in
the background is my godmother, Susan, with the long, black
hair and floppy hat. By the way, we didn't scan in the picture
wrong, that fuzziness on the sides is another funkadelic
special mood effect. Oooh yeah, baby!
The exchange of rings. The priest, according to the marriage
certificate, is a Fr. Rush. I don't believe I've ever met him, but as you
can see back then, he too, was awesome. Cool sideburns, Fr. Rush!
Particularly before she got sick, my mom was a tiny little thing.
When my grandmother died we found my mom's wedding dress
in the cedar closet. I fit into it in 7th grade. Geese! Here you
can also see the amazing heads of hair on Fr. Rush and the
altar boys. Wow!
Here's the wedding party. I forget where this picture was taken.
Perhaps Parvin. On the extreme left is my sister's godmother,
Patty and next to her my godmother, Susan. Next to my dad is
some guy he obviously is not friends with anymore (my guess
is "Skip"), but boy he does have a great beard, huh? Next to that
is my dad's friend, Pat, my dad's youngest brother (the long hair),
and on the extreme end my dad's middle brother. How do you like
those brides maid dresses with the floppy hats?!
My mom died back in 2000 just after she turned 50 following a long, long, long battle with cancer, and my father has recently remarried. He let me borrow the wedding album awhile back to scan in these pictures of their wedding day. As you can see, they were clearly awesome! This was back in 1974, the height of blue eyeshadow, side burns, chunky heels, and general awesomeness all around.
On a serious note, it is nothing short of a complete and utter travesty that the bishop wants this beautiful church, every bit as beautiful and comparable in size as the cathedral in Camden, closed. It is totally unnecessary. This is the sort of thing that devastates people and drives them from the Faith in complete disgust, mistrust, disbelief. But hey, I guess it looks too...Catholic. Time to make way for the generic McMegachurch. Change the mass, change the church, change the religion. And hey, St. Isidore's has got plenty of land behind it...
This is my beautiful mother. As you can see, she liked wildflowers
so it was very appropriate that she chose daisies for her bouquet.
The confusing part about this picture is, if that's my mom in the
foreground sporting the blue eyeshadow and faux Victorian
dress, who's that chick standing next to my dad at the altar?!
Super duper special effects! Those were the fabulous 70's!
Here you see my wonderful grandparents. I love them. My
grandmother, the one in the blue dress, was a school teacher
way back in the days of the one-room schoolhouse. And yes, she
had strawberry blonde hair and green eyes and yes she was
100% Italian. My grandfather owned DeMarchi Printing on West Ave.
They came from large farm families. Great ravioli and pizzelle,
among other things. My dad is on the left with his dad standing
behind him. Check out my dad's platform shoes and lambchops.
Whoa! Standing in the center of the photo is one of my grandfather's
sisters. A wonderful woman, she passed away only last year.
This is a nice view of the church from the choir loft. I remember
going to Sacred Heart with my grandparents for mass. We'd always
sit on the left hand side (not pictured above, but below).
Here you can see my dad's mustache and ruffly shirt. Standing in
the background is my godmother, Susan, with the long, black
hair and floppy hat. By the way, we didn't scan in the picture
wrong, that fuzziness on the sides is another funkadelic
special mood effect. Oooh yeah, baby!
The exchange of rings. The priest, according to the marriage
certificate, is a Fr. Rush. I don't believe I've ever met him, but as you
can see back then, he too, was awesome. Cool sideburns, Fr. Rush!
Particularly before she got sick, my mom was a tiny little thing.
When my grandmother died we found my mom's wedding dress
in the cedar closet. I fit into it in 7th grade. Geese! Here you
can also see the amazing heads of hair on Fr. Rush and the
altar boys. Wow!
Here's the wedding party. I forget where this picture was taken.
Perhaps Parvin. On the extreme left is my sister's godmother,
Patty and next to her my godmother, Susan. Next to my dad is
some guy he obviously is not friends with anymore (my guess
is "Skip"), but boy he does have a great beard, huh? Next to that
is my dad's friend, Pat, my dad's youngest brother (the long hair),
and on the extreme end my dad's middle brother. How do you like
those brides maid dresses with the floppy hats?!
Needless to say I listened to a lot of Bee Gees growing up (which I still hate). Anything falsetto just turns my stomach. (Sorry mom.) I probably don't need to tell you that I am pictured in my nursery school photo with plaid, corduroy bell bottoms. Sigh. Apparently this song was recorded in 1977, but it just seems appropriate.
If you like these fabulous pictures, check out my parents floating in a brandy snifter. Cool effects, man!
If you like these fabulous pictures, check out my parents floating in a brandy snifter. Cool effects, man!