John McKay frequently came to visit her in Milwaukee. He proposed one month later.
The young bride wore a simple, short dress to the wedding, which she gave away years later. And when she stares at their wedding photo, memories of their whirlwind courtship and 53 years of marriage come tumbling back each time.
“He used to joke that he married me for my cute little boy,” she said. “He used to tell my son war stories and treat him like his own son. He ended up adopting him and was very good to him.”
The McKays would go on to have four more children. In the early 1980s, McKay was surprised when her daughter, Joan Melvin, decided to wear her 1942 wedding gown in her own ceremony. Disenchanted by the gaudy beaded dresses in fashion at the time, Melvin fell in love with her mother’s simple and classic gown from her first marria

This afternoon, 60 years later, her garment will be worn again. Norma Pesch, now 85, is one of eight women at the Overland Park Place retirement center presenting their wedding dresses in an intimate fashion show.
Granddaughters and Overland Park Place employees will strut the runway in the gowns while the owners dish out wisdom about courtship and romance.
They hope their stories inspire their daughters, granddaughters and employees at the retirement center. After all, their dresses stand as symbols for love and unity. Friendship and romance. Keeping vows through sickness and health.

“I married my high school sweetheart in 1942, and then he went to war,” said McKay, who lived in Milwaukee at the time. “I was three months pregnant when I got the phone call that his plane had crashed in North Africa, on its way to Germany.”

A few years later, the single mother was in line for a Broadway play in New York City when she noticed a handsome Air Force navigator in uniform smiling at her. Her heart beating fast, McKay demurely accepted his invitation to dinner.
After a romantic night on the town, her date promised to keep in touch. The blushing brunette shrugged off his gesture, thinking she would never see him again.

Pesch is thrilled to show off her dress once more, especially on Valentine’s Day. After spending six decades in a cedar box, the dress deserves to breathe again. The grandmother has spent the past week steaming out the deep wrinkles in the gown.
“I can’t fit into it anymore,” she admits with a laugh. “But I’m very glad someone else is going to get the chance

The billowing white lace poured through the young schoolteacher’s fingers.
She smiled softly as her fingers outlined the ruffles hugging the tight bodice.
It was 1949, and the bride-to-be had fallen in love for the second time — with a dress.
This afternoon, 60 years later, her garment will be worn again. Norma Pesch, now 85, is one of eight women at the Overland Park Place retirement center presenting their wedding dresses in an intimate fashion show

The billowing white lace poured through the young schoolteacher’s fingers.
She smiled softly as her fingers outlined the ruffles hugging the tight bodice.
It was 1949, and the bride-to-be had fallen in love for the second time — with a dress.
This afternoon, 60 years later, her garment will be worn again. Norma Pesch, now 85, is one of eight women at the Overland Park Place retirement center presenting their wedding dresses in an intimate fashion show