monday, february 5, 1979
wedding supplement to the daily nebraskan
page 5
Judge reminisces about
two decades of weddings
By Cindy Coglianese
When lawyer Ralph Slocum was ap
pointed as acting county judge in 1952,
one of his assignments was to perform mar
riages in Lancaster County.
He performed this duty for over two de
cades until his retirement in 1977, but he
never used "a little black book" to recite
wedding ceremonies from. He is quick to
boast of the ceremony that he memorized
on strict orders from the county judge in
the 1950s.
After diligent research to find the cere
mony to memorize and use throughout
the years, he found a standard ceremony
and set about memorizing it.
Off the paper
"The first couple that I married-they
were an older couple, real nice,-well, I
had to ask them if it was all right if I read
the ceremony off the paper because I
didn't have it quite memorized," Slocum
recalled.
"But the second couple that came in, I
performed their marriage without reciting
it from paper."
Slocum also recalled a time when he was
told to visit with a couple before they were
married. They were waiting for their
license in his office.
"This tall black couple came in. The
woman had on a bright green dress and
purple shoes. Well, what do you say to a
couple that are going to be married? I said
to the girl, 'My, your dress is pretty,' and
she said she dressed up special for the
occasion.
Experimental wedding
"I told them they were the first black
couple I had ever married. They said they
were glad to be an experiment.
"Then I commented on what a healthy
looking couple they were and told them
they'd have a nice family. The said 'Thank
you, we have three already.' After that I
decided no more conferences."
Slocum also recalls "sad times" when
the state law prohibited marriages of Cau
casians to persons with other ethnic back
grounds. He said there were times he owuld
have to refuse to marry couples.
"There were these airplane guys (refer
ring to servicemen from the air base in
Lincoln) from Canada or Alaska or some
where who fell in love with Hawaiian girls.
Well, I'd have to ask the girl what national
ity she was and she'd be a quai.er
Japanese. But Iowa was ahead of us with
their laws so I'd let them use my phone
and call Council Bluffs so they could go
over there and get married."
Student marriages
Slocum said he married many students
from Lincoln's universities as well as per
forming marriages for servicemen from the
airbase. One of the most memorable of the
university student marriages happened on a
"cold day in November."
"It was a hell of a cold day in November
and this couple walked in barefoot. They
were really well dressed so I said to them
'I've heard a lot about hippies but you're
the best dressed hippies I've ever seen'."
"They both were attending the univer
sity. The girl was from California and she
told me if she married a Nebraska resi
dent she would have to pay in-state tuition
rather than the more expensive out-of-state
tuition she had been paying.
'Barefoot marriage'
"I asked them if that was the only rea
son they were getting married and they
told me they had planned on getting mar
ried sometime anyway. Then I asked them
about their barefeet and they told me that
that is how they lived in California-in
bare feet. So that was my first barefoot
marriage."
Slocum once was asked to marry a
couple over channel nine on a citizen's
band radio, the man in his truck, the
woman in her car and Slocum in his car.
Though Slocum said it would have been
fun to pronounce a couple man and wife
over the CB, he said he didn't want to do
it.
More than once, Slocum was asked to
perform wedding ceremonies in airplanes.
There were even times when a female
couple would come to his office and ask if
they could be married, but Slocum said it
was the male couples who were most in
sistent that he marry them. Slocum said he
would refer these couples to the
Attorney General.
Appreciative couples
Slocum, though he preferred not to take
tips, made $40 to $50 his first year per
forming marriages. Occasionally, a myster
ious bottle of whiskey or box of candy
would appear at his backdoor-no doubt a
gift from an appreciative couple, he said.
During another wedding ceremony, in
the sunken flower gardens in Antelope
Park, the Hawaiian bride asked if Slocum
would include a native rite in the
ceremony.
The ritual, she explained, called for Slo
cum to put a dollar bill down the front of
her dress immediately after pronouncing
them man and wife. She told him that on
the wedding night the first thing her new
husband was to do was look for the bill.
Slocum, not wanting to spoil the
wedding rituals of the bride's native land,
agreed. After pronouncing the couple man
and wife, Slocum said the biggest stir in
the crowd came from his wife.
wedding supplement
The 1979 Wedding Supplement is a
publication of the Daily Nebraskan, 34
Nebraska Union, Lincoln, Neb., 68588.
Supplement editor: Deb Shanahan. Ad
vertising manager: Denise Jordan. Layout
editor: John Minnick. Cover art: Kenna
Stevens.
Editor in chief: Pete Mason. Business
Manager: Jerri Haussler. Production
manager: Kitty Policky.
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