Francis Joseph Galarneau JR & Priscilla Lee Taylor Courtship and Wedding

On the night of April 1, 1971, a male friend of mine, Ralph Whittemore, stopped by my home to kill some time before going bowling. He had a friend with him – Joe Galarneau. (His full name is Francis Joseph Galarneau, Jr., but he always went by the name “Joe” so as not to be confused with his father.) Joe and I talked and seemed to “hit if off”. The next day he called to ask if he could see me. I think we saw (or talked on the phone with each other) nearly every day after that.

We did a lot of talking, getting to know each other. Joe had many of the characteristics I was looking for in a man at that time: he liked spending time with me, he was a great kisser and good looking, he was hard working, he didn’t mind helping around my parent’s house, he liked anything I cooked, he was compassionate and not afraid to show is emotions, and he was OK with whether I wanted children, or not.

When I went away to Colby-Sawyer College in NH that fall, he called every day. After one semester at Colby I decided to switch colleges and continue at Rutland Business College. (I liked their system of allowing students to work at their own pace. I was able to complete a 2 yr. business curriculum and graduate in June of 1972, counting my 1 semester at Colby.) By returning home and completing college in Rutland, Joe and I were able to spend even more time getting to know each other. We just seemed to click so well together, it seemed only natural for me to say “yes”, when he asked me if I’d like to go pick out an engagement ring (which we did!).

That lead to us setting a date - April 1st 1972 – exactly 1 yr from the day we met.  That particular date happened to be the Saturday before Easter that year, so we had to get special permission from the church to hold a wedding on that date.  We went to some wedding counseling sessions given by the priest, and were granted our special permission, as long as we did not have a Catholic Mass (which we didn’t).  It was a simple wedding vow ceremony, given by the priest.

I had a feeling my parents wouldn’t be very happy about it, and they weren’t.  They liked Joe (who was nearly 7yrs older than I), but thought I was too young. But we were determined…

Dad Taylor walked me down the aisle, but refused to attend the reception because there was going to be alcohol there (It was BYOB).

After the Ceremony, we went to the photographers to have wedding photos taken, and then on to the reception at the Mendon Town Hall, where the party was in full swing, with an accordion player for music.

Because Joe had to work, and I had college, we did not go on a honeymoon. 13 years later Mom Taylor took us on a trip to Hawaii (with money left over from the wedding), which I always considered as our “honeymoon”.