It was Tuesday, Dec. 30, 1947 and we were all at Temple Beth Jacob on Creek Drive in Menlo Park. Rabbi Goldstein had come from San Francisco.
We were all on time: the bride, the groom, rabbi and guests. Unfortunately the shammes [synagogue helper] with whom we had made the arrangements had neglected to either open or heat the synagogue. The shammes never did appear and it was getting dark. With a little bit of ingenuity on the part of the groom’s University of California Pi Lambda Phi fraternity brothers, they found a bathroom window almost at the second level that had been left open. They boosted one another up and one of them slipped into the open window and down into the synagogue.
He came around and opened the door for all of us to come in. We waited a few more minutes for the photographer, who never did come and decided to go on with the ceremony.
This had to be one of the fastest weddings in Temple Beth Jacob’s history. He were all freezing. We did go on to a lovely dinner at the Chukker Restaurant in San Mateo. It was toasty warm and all was wonderful except the half grapefruit filled with fruit. It was so frozen, it could not thaw out in enough time to be eaten.
The 35 guests had a great time! This year will be our 50th wedding anniversary.