Robert Bruce Worley had just come back from serving in the Marines in Korea and was staying at his aunt’s home in Mobile, Alabama. His aunt wanted him to attend a lovely party with his first cousin. Linda Jane Knight was invited to the same party. Bruce walked over to Linda, introduced himself, spoke to her for about five minutes and at the end of the conversation said that he was going to marry her! Linda was shocked and really didn’t see him again until they both went college in Alabama. He was a DEKE and studying to be an engineer and she was a KD and studying to be a teacher. They were reacquainted at rush parties – and that was it! Bruce asked her father for her hand in marriage when Linda was a freshman, but they had to wait until their senior year in college to get married.
Linda and Bruce each had seven attendants at the wedding, held at the Dauphin Way Methodist Church at 7:30 p.m. The reception was held at the Mobile Country Club. Bruce was from Des Moines, Iowa, and his parents had the rehearsal dinner in the Jackson Room at The Battle House Hotel.
Linda’s dress was handmade with Chantilly lace and silk taffeta with a portrait collar and cap sleeves, appliquéd with small lace flowers. Her bouquet had white orchids nestled into lilies of the valley. There were large arrangements of white peonies all over the ballroom. The cake was on an exquisite linen and cut work cloth, featuring a silver epergne filled with lilies of the valley and white roses in the center. The three-tiered wedding cake was embossed with a duplicate of Linda’s bouquet in spun sugar.
After the reception, the bride and groom were off to Miami and other points in Florida. They then resided first in Tuscaloosa and then Mobile, Alabama, and now in New Orleans. Bruce and Linda will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in June!
