Saturday mornings are a good time for memories. Today while watching news coverage of Chelsea Clinton's wedding, I was taken by a segment on Luci Baines Johnson's wedding, August 6, 1966.
Yes, it was 44 years ago this week that I was given my first official assignment as Associated Student Body President of Cathedral Girls' High School, San Diego, CA. It was July 1966. President Lyndon Johnson's 19 year old daughter was getting married, having converted to Roman Catholicism just the summer before on her 18th birthday, Luci was marrying Patrick Nugent, a Roman Catholic. Rest assured I did not know Luci, but my school principal and the new Bishop of San Diego, Francis James Furey (this photo is Bishop Furey accepting the Mass offering from me, 1966) thought it would be a nice gesture for his Catholic girls' school to send a wedding present to the President's daughter, a young Catholic woman. My difficult task was to not spend a lot of money and to find a present that would represent San Diego. To tell you the truth even today, if you asked me to send you a gift that "says" San Diego I wouldn't know what to buy.(Of course you know if I were in San Francisco I would buy Ghirardelli chocolate, sourdough bread or a great photo of the Golden Gate Bridge.)
I actually made my way to an interesting candle shop. This shop was/is located in what is now referred to as Old Town San Diego. I found a beautiful candle and wrote, what I am sure was, a "touching" letter and sent it to Luci. On August 5, 1966, (the day before her wedding) Luci Baines Johnson signed a thank you letter to me. It is pictured here. The return address was simply The White House and the 1st Class postage was five cents!
Later today Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky will celebrate their marriage. Here you can enjoy a public video of Luci's wedding. Patrick "Pat" and Luci were divorced in 1979 and their marriage was annulled by the Catholic Church.
To Life!
If you are having trouble viewing the video, you can see it here.
Do you have memories of the weddings of President's children? I would love to hear from you.
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