……it will be great fun to be
married twice…in two different ways with two different sides of the
family. That makes both of us happy and
I think will please everyone else. (letter to Mother and Dad in Mexico City -
Nov. 25th, 1974)
Ever since we were married in 1975, we have had two wedding anniversaries, February 16th and February 22nd. Little did I know when I went to Paraguay in
July 1973, that it would end a year and a half later with two weddings and a
lifetime of adventures.
Art
and I met in Asunción, Paraguay where we had accepted jobs at the American
School of Asunción. Why Paraguay? Art
said he was escaping the monotony of public high school teaching in
Connecticut. He had tasted international travel in the Peace Corps in Western
Samoa. Fearless and optimistic, he
wanted to explore the far corners of the world.
I was escaping a failed relationship in Vermont. Land
locked, remote Paraguay sounded like the end of the world which was was fine by
me. I had grown up in South America so it was not totally unfamiliar to me. Art was the entire
Social Studies Dept. at ASA and taught all the history classes in the middle and upper
school. I was the K – 12 Librarian in a
modern, open media center at a K-12 school of 300 students that had been built
with USAID funds as a “model” for Paraguayan educators. Our colleagues were
Americans and Paraguayans and the students were American, European expats, and
sons and daughters of the Paraguayan elite including the Vice President’s
children.
Art Aaronson was one of the very few single people around and our relationship began as a friendship
and someone to do things with. Our sense
of adventure made for fun times in a remote South American city that had
little to entice young people in their 20’s like us. We played tennis, explored the few decent
local restaurants, took riding lessons and guitar lessons, worked hard at our
jobs, explored nearby resorts in Encarnación (run by Belgian Nazis we later
learned) and Iguaçu Falls. During school
breaks we went for long weekends to Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, and Buenos
Aires. During longer holidays I travelled with a British girlfriend, Marilyn,
to La Paz, Cuzco and Machu Picchu and then “home” to Mexico City. In the summer “home” was Vermont where Mother and Dad had built a house
in the mountains. Art was off to the US
and then found cheap flights to India and Asia! We went our separate ways. Now he wishes he had not postponed Cuzco and
Machu Picchu because he has yet to go.
I
was at home in Latin America and spoke
the language like a native so I became the translator/navigator. Art was fearless pushing me to try things I
might not have without him. We were a
good match despite our very different backgrounds. Our friendship grew into love and then
unexpectedly into marriage.
In October/November of 1975 Art
began talking of where he would go next as his contract was up in
December. My contract was not finished
until July but I had decided if Art left Asunción, I would move on as well. I
wanted to go to Europe and fulfill my dream of living in London. Art wanted to
see more of the world and eventually find a job in another international school. Fate intervened when Dr. Stimson, the
Director of our school in Asunción came back from a conference of headmasters
to report that Santiago was looking for a librarian and a social studies
teacher. Would we be interested? He could put in a word for us. What did we
have to lose? I was drawn to the idea of
going back to my birthplace after 29 years.
Job offers came through from the
International School Nido de Aguilas in Santiago, Chile based on the word of one
headmaster to the other. No interviews
or phone calls required…simply a letter and resume expressing interest. We accepted and told that school would start in
early March 1975. We had been planning a big trip after Asunción (with all the
money we had saved that we couldn’t find anything to spend on). We would take a boat
from Buenos Aires to Naples, Italy and travel during the winter months in Sicily,
Tunisia, Greece and eventually visit friends in northern Europe. I put my dream of London aside temporarily.
Then, Art proposed but not on bended
knee…”we should be married and go as a teaching couple to our new school.”
I replied, “I am not sure we would
be accepted in the school community if we just lived together…so, yes, let's get married."
We were 29, had known each other a year and a half and had become each other’s best friend while falling in love. It felt absolutely right! I telegrammed my parents in Mexico City and Art called his mother in New Haven. We had everyone’s blessing.
We were 29, had known each other a year and a half and had become each other’s best friend while falling in love. It felt absolutely right! I telegrammed my parents in Mexico City and Art called his mother in New Haven. We had everyone’s blessing.
We
scrambled to work out how to have a wedding, travel to Europe and North Africa
as we had planned for months, and arrive in Santiago, Chile in early March to
start a new life. Rereading my letters home I was struck by how we could make
all these arrangements when letters took weeks and often never arrived. No
internet, email or Skype of any kind. Phone calls were prohibitively expensive and
without guarantee of a good connection. As time grew short and we were to leave
Paraguay to board the Eugenio C, an Italian ship in Buenos Aires for Naples on
December 9th, plans needed to be made and dates set.
November
16, 1974 (telegram to the US
Embassy in Mexico City to my father)
Accepted jobs in Chile starting March. Getting married February Mexico. Love, Kristina Art…
November
16, 1974 (a pink notecard addressed to Kristina Sampson, The American
School of Asuncion, c/o American Embassy, Asuncion, Paraguay from Celia
Aaronson, Art’s mother)
Dear Kristina, I was very happy to hear the
good news. Arthur has made a wonderful
choice and I am extremely happy to welcome you into our family. I am looking forward to your next visit
here. I am glad that you both have a job
to look forward to but I wished it was a little closer to home. I send you both my very best wishes for a
life of health and happiness together.
Love, Celia Aaronson
November 18, 1974 (telegram from Mexico City)
November 18, 1974 (telegram from Mexico City)
Delighted
with good news advise when you will be in Mexico so wedding can be
planned. Mother and Dad
November
25th, 1974 (from letter to Mother and Dad in Mexico City)
Yesterday, Art’s Mother called all the way
from Connecticut to congratulate us and say that she was counting on being at
whatever ceremony we have…and that she had found a rabbi that would marry us
even if I’m not Jewish….I was a bit dismayed by all of this…Art explained to me
it’s very important to her that we get married by a rabbi. She suggested we have a very simple ceremony
in Connecticut at Art’s sister’s house with just the immediate family.
For awhile we had thought of just marrying
in Europe but we slowly began to realize that we really would be slighting
family…
December 2nd, 1974 (from letter to Mother and Dad in Mexico City)
The Connecticut wedding is planned for Feb.
16th and we think the Mexico one should be the 22nd or 23rd. We’ll arrive Mexico City the 17th
or so…We decided we won’t send wedding invitations but announcements that we
were married to send out to friends afterwards….I will call you right away when
I get to the U.S. in early February.
December 4th, 1974 (letter address to Mr. and Mrs. Richard
Sampson in Mexico City)
I would like to take this opportunity to
introduce myself as your future son in law’s mother. It is unfortunate that we all can’t be
together at their wedding. I met
Kristina this past summer and I truly think she is a lovely girl and am
delighted to know she is going to be my future daughter-in-law. I hope they will both be very happy. I do wish that this will be their last
foreign job. I would love to have them
settle down in this country. Of course,
that would be their decision. I
sincerely hope that we will soon meet and get to know each other. My best wishes for a happy Holiday. Sincerely, Celia Aaronson
Amazingly I did
not call my parents to finalize plans in November but in a letter sent from
Naples, Italy I wrote…
December 23rd, 1974 – Naples (letter
to Mother and Dad in Mexico City)
About this wedding – your letters
set me thinking about the red tape involved in getting a marriage certificate
in Mexico. Is it possible not to do that
and get the Unitarian minister for a ceremony of some sort…We have to get a
marriage license in Conn. …then the Jewish ceremony by a rabbi on Feb. 16th
which is very important to Art’s family.
As we will be already legally married in the US we’d like to have a
ceremony the following Saturday, February 22nd and a luncheon. (Mexican?) would be nice….Invite some of your
good friends…I’m going to shop for something to wear at these weddings on this
trip…
January 11th, 1975 – Athens (letter to Mother and Dad in Mexico City)
We ordered a wedding ring here, handmade in
gold. And the wedding dress is being
made for me here and is simply out of this world. I think about wearing it constantly. It cost a fortune but for 2 weddings we rationalized
it. It’s long white wool with gold
embroidery – and a little vest all embroidered which fastens under the
bust. It is typical Grecian design and
truly a work of art. It is worthy of being
put in a museum someday. I shall hand
carry it all the way to New York and then to Mexico City. We also ordered some
little Greek favors (small pottery cups) to fill with candy and have at both
weddings…so the Jewish and Unitarian weddings will be “a la Greek”.
We flew back to New York in early
February arriving at 216 Lawncrest Road in New Haven, Art’s home, in the snow
and cold. We had with us the wedding dress, the ring, the favors, and suitcases
bulging with treasures picked up on our two month trip which had started when
we left Asunción in early December. Yes,
the honeymoon came before the wedding as we went from Buenos Aires to Naples by
ship, flew to Sicily and Tunisia, then to Athens and Crete, north to Brussels
and London and home to the US.
Saturday, February 16th,
1975 was a snowy cold day. We gathered
at Art’s sister’s house in Orange in the afternoon where chairs were set up in
the living room and a buffet table in the dining room piled high with food and
a wedding cake. Ceil, Art’s mother, and
my new sister-in-law, Saralee, had been working on food preparation for weeks
and did it all themselves except perhaps the cake. Looking back I wonder if I appreciated the
work they put into my wedding since all I did was show up and put on my special Greek wedding dress.
We met
Rabbi Samuel Silver shortly before the ceremony and all these years later, I
cannot remember a thing he said to me except he gave me a book to read
explaining Jewish customs to non Jews.
All of Art’s relatives from New Haven and Hartford came as did his twin
brother from Denver, who stood up as Best Man.
My wedding began as I entered on the arm of my new brother-in-law Peter, and I realized that it was the first Jewish wedding I had ever been to. I was just happy to be getting married. Art and I stood together in front of the fireplace facing Rabbi Silver. Art slipped the gold Greek wedding ring on my finger, kissed me, and broke the glass under his foot which symbolizes the absolute finality of the marriage covenant. “Mazel tov” wishes poured over us and I had no doubt that despite our different backgrounds and religions we were meant for each other.
My wedding began as I entered on the arm of my new brother-in-law Peter, and I realized that it was the first Jewish wedding I had ever been to. I was just happy to be getting married. Art and I stood together in front of the fireplace facing Rabbi Silver. Art slipped the gold Greek wedding ring on my finger, kissed me, and broke the glass under his foot which symbolizes the absolute finality of the marriage covenant. “Mazel tov” wishes poured over us and I had no doubt that despite our different backgrounds and religions we were meant for each other.
Brother-in-law, Norm and mother-in-law Ceil
The day after the wedding, we said
sad goodbyes to Art’s mother and flew to Mexico City. We were loaded with luggage full of wedding
gifts and things for our new life in Chile. We carried with us our wedding clothes, and an
official Connecticut marriage license. There could be no greater contrast than
arriving at Mother and Dad’s large modern home on a busy avenue in Mexico City
from suburban New Haven and Art’s childhood home in the winter. The Mexico City house was enclosed in high walls with a
tall wooden gate so that it was hidden for complete privacy. We settled in to one of the guest bedrooms at
the back of the house and welcomed being waited on by the household staff of
maids and chauffeur. We were officially
married but Mother was loving having free rein to plan a wedding for me..the only daughter.
She
hired a caterer who would do a Mexican luncheon with Montezuma Pie as a main course. Mother made pastel colored table cloths and napkins of soft pink, green, blue,
and yellow for the luncheon tables. A multi- tiered fruit wedding cake with a
traditional bride and groom on top came from a bakery. She had invited at least 40 people, mostly
American expat friends but also some close wealthy Mexican friends. Art’s Uncle Harry Aaronson
and his wife Aunt Ruth, whom I didn’t know, traveled by bus from Guadalajara
where they were spending the winter, to be at our wedding. I was glad there was someone representing Art’s side of the family. My dear Aunt
Mary Blythe, my favorite aunt, flew down from Santa Barbara, California to
be there for me. Mother got the Unitarian minister to come and give a full marriage
service.
On Saturday, February 22nd,
1975 I dressed once again in my Greek white wool dress, and taking my
father’s arm, I walked slowly to the music of Pachelbel Canon in D down the
long corridor from the back of the house to the front. Art and I stood in front
of an open fireplace in the middle of the large modern living room for the
Unitarian service When it was over lunch was served by extra household staff Mother had hired. As a
diplomat’s wife, there was no one more experienced than she was in planning
large sit down luncheons and dinner parties.
We had a good time at our second
wedding and received unusual wedding gifts such as a silver tortilla basket and
a copper pitcher and tray which we still have and use today. We have no idea who gave them to us but they
represent our Mexico City wedding and have become treasures.
The day after the wedding we were to
fly to Santiago. My father went with us
along with a driver and our mountains of luggage, now filled with even more
wedding presents, to the Mexico City airport.
We even had skis that we optimistically thought we’d use in Portillo,
the famous Chilean ski resort. (Art had
never been on skis in his life!) Up
until then I had managed to keep track of work contracts, passports, tickets,
travelers checks and other important documents but somehow between arriving in
Mexico City and leaving I had lost the immigration form in my passport that
would allow me to leave Mexico! I can
still remember my father’s anger and yet he didn’t waste a minute "pulling strings" with some of his many local contacts to fix the problem for me. By the time we got through
immigration to check in we were about to miss the flight. The Canadian Air representative checked every
last piece of luggage for us without weighing a thing! We breezed through and were the last to board
the plane.
We were met in Santiago by an American teacher with driver and car. The room in a pension in Providencia the school put us up in was small and I still carry the image of the mountain of luggage in the middle of the room that we had to crawl over to find the bed at night. That got us up and out quickly to find a place to live…
We were met in Santiago by an American teacher with driver and car. The room in a pension in Providencia the school put us up in was small and I still carry the image of the mountain of luggage in the middle of the room that we had to crawl over to find the bed at night. That got us up and out quickly to find a place to live…
March
2nd, 1975, Santiago (letter
to Mother and Dad in Mexico City)
Greetings from Santiago…The trip was long
and the plane crowded so it wasn’t restful.
We simply can’t get over how we weren’t charged one cent of overweight
which means we get $200 out of this deal (the school was paying as this excess baggage allowance).
We arrived around noon and one of the
teachers was there to meet us….luckily she had a driver and big station wagon
to take all our stuff. We made it with
all those suitcases and skis and all…no problems at all in customs…
Not happy with this place (the pension) but
luckily we found a place and are moving tomorrow!
And so we began
this marriage we are still enjoying 43 years later. In my same first letter home from Santiago, my first letter as
a married daughter, I wrote:
… starting married life far away from home
and in a new place has brought us so much closer together. We have been each other’s support these days
and feel the need of one another so much.
I really think that this makes for an even better relationship. Art is so very good to me...I couldn’t be
happier with my new husband. Still have
to remind myself that we are really married.
