Charlotte and Charlie's 50th Anniversary Celebration

June 27, 2003

  1. Mike is wide awake as we board the bus for Salzburg ... and he doesn't even do coffee!

  2. The altar in the Dom, in Salzburg, Austria. This is where Mom and Dad were married 50 years ago.

  3. Debbie Damron and Mom genuinely delighted to see each other. Debbie the daughter of Dave and Elizabeth Damron, lifetime friends of Mom and Dad. Dave unfortunately passed away years ago. Debbie is a professional singer, and came to sing some solos during the ceremony. Her partner is shown to the left, and then Linda is shown looking gorgeous in Trachten.

  4. Dad and Gerhard Koeniger; Gerhard is Kathi's father-in-law. He and his wife Ursula traveled down from Germany.

  5. Mom and Dad stand before the altar, before the ceremony is about to start.

  6. The three co-celebrants, from the left: Tobias, Gerhard (Erlmoser), and Ignaz.

  7. Along one side of the altar, about half of the friends and family are lined up in the pews.

  8. Finally, the flash seems to be doing its part! Mom and Dad at the altar, and, up above, Debbie is readying.

  9. An unfortunately dark shot of Debbie up in the loft area.

  10. Rachel reads the first reading!

  11. The three priests listen attentively as Rachel gracefully presents the reading.

  12. The three priests during the service.

  13. Gerhard is possibly reading the Gospel, or possibly delivering his short sermon or remarks.

  14. Mom and Dad during the ceremony.

  15. An unfortunately dark closeup of Mom and Dad during the ceremony.

  16. Gerhard approaches Mom and Dad at a point in the ceremony.

  17. Michael delivers the second reading.

  18. Not the most flattering picure of Rainer, but you have to admit Kathi is beautiful!

  19. The immediate family: Linda, Michael, Charles, Gerhard, Charlotte, Marianne, Katherine.

  20. One mo' agin'

  21. The whole family: Ryan, Peggie, Rachel, Michael, Charles, Gerhard, Charlotte, Marianne, Katherine, Rainer, Linda, Gary. Marianne denies she is employing Japanese Posing Technique.

  22. What can I say. You can get some people lookin' good some of the time. The rest is pure chance.

  23. My brain is in meltdown - this little girl is Kurt and Christina's daughter (Kurt being Mom's nephew and Marianne's cousin), but her name has flown away to a distant place. It will come to me soon ...

  24. The angel in white brings yellow roses.

  25. Mozartplatz, a square just around the corner from the Dom (the Cathedral) in Salzburg.

  26. Pastels and blues and gentle steeples - I have this thing for Austrian skyscapes.

  27. A closer view of the fountain in the Mozartplatz, Salzburg.

  28. I believe they were setting up bleachers for an outdoor performance of some sort. If you're wondering why I have these scenic pictures of downtown Salzburg, it's because we had some time to kill in between the ceremony and the reception. Of course I went to the Internet Cafe in the Mozartplatz, but I took some pictures along the way.

  29. A view of the castle, from the street fair and vendors in the square.

  30. Another art shot, what can I say.

  31. The walkway towards the elaborate wrought-iron gates to the cemetary.

  32. I never tire of looking into the sky and marveling at the architecture and the arrangement of buildings near each other.

  33. In the reception hall, 4 Klang (4 Voices), the musicians, make ready.

  34. A closeup of the accordian player and the zither player.

  35. And the harp player!

  36. The zither player again, and the trombone player (note: all of them swapped off and played different instruments at different times.)

  37. The Koeniger table at the reception: Ursula, Markus, Kathi, Rainer, and Linda and Gary. OK, so Linda and Gary aren't precisely Koenigers. So sue me. I'm just writing this to see if anyone reads my annotations. :-)

  38. Now Peggie must have spotted an interesting bird! Also shown: Debbie Damron, soloist at the ceremony, and her partner.

  39. A terrific picture of Dieter Rauchenzauner, an old family friend, and Michael.

  40. The head table at the reception! Skip Wolfe, an old family friend who traveled from Virginia, Mom, Dad, Gerhard, Schwester Augusta, Mali, Helga, Dieter.

  41. A nice picture of Kurt and his family! As soon as I publish this web page the actual names of everyone will come flooding back to me! Kurt is Charlotte's nephew and Marianne's cousin. The story is more complicated than just that. He is the son of Charlotte's brother who had been estranged from the family for a long time. When Kurt the younger looked us up in the year 2000, and came to Kathi's wedding in Kirchberg, it was truly a touching family reunion.

  42. The head table, encore.

  43. Now, the special 50th Anniversary Candle burns bright on the head table.

  44. The lederhosen men are invited to their dinner, after playing beautifully for hours.

  45. I had to get a picture of me with one of the lederhosen men, to prove to friends in California that people wear this stuff, for real. Then both of them gallantly jumped in the picture! No doubt I will have to live this down in some future political career. N.B. I put this photo up on match.com and it doesn't seem to be improving my chances of getting a date. What the heck. I still like the photo.

  46. The virtual granddaughter is a fearless and accomplished violinist. She performed quite the impressive concert, consisting of many little pieces.

  47. Concentration.

  48. A convocation among Michael, Mom, and I believe an older cousin, and then Rachel.

  49. The Dirndl Face-off.


Marianne Mueller
Last modified: October 9, 2003