The saga of the future Mr. and Mrs. George W. Gramlich began in the summer of 1958. The pastor at Woodlawn Heights Presbyterian Church in The Bronx, New York, where Florence �Betty� Todd was a parishioner (she was a resident of nearby Yonkers), had recently started a Young Adult Group. Word got around to the surrounding communities, and soon young people from all over were joining in the fun. There were get-togethers in the church basement, summer beach parties on the shores of Long Island, and trips to Rye Playland for rowboating and amusement rides.
George Gramlich soon began attending the group meetings with a friend whose parents attended Woodlawn Heights Presbyterian, and he and Betty met and soon became friends. At first, they saw each other only during the group meetings and activities. But by the spring of 1960, it became apparent that there was more than just casual friendship between them. After a group activity on the evening of Friday, May 20, 1960 � the day before George�s older sister Mabel�s wedding � they expressed their feelings for one another, and from that day on they were inseperable.
The Engagement and Wedding
George and Betty had been dating for nearly a year and a half when in the late summer of 1961, George received his Army draft notice. He was to report at the beginning of October and would be serving for two years. Though there had been no official talk of marriage, both knew that this was what they wanted, and so on August 15, Betty picked out her engagement ring and they were officially engaged.
George�s 6-week Army basic training session at Fort Dix, New Jersey, would be over around the second week of November, and he would have to report for duty at Fort Eustis, Virginia, by November 17, so they decided on Saturday, November 11, as the wedding date. While George was doing push-ups and learning to make a bed tight enough to bounce a quarter on, Betty was rushing around the NYC area, making preparations for her wedding. (She later said that living near New York City was a lifesaver when it came to making last-minute plans!) Betty asked her sister-in-law, Mabel Davidson (nicknamed �Chick�) to be her matron of honor, and her brother John�s wife, Miyoko, to be the bridesmaid. George had asked his brother-in-law, Arthur Davidson, to be his best man, and his friends Vernon Henninger and Joe Gorba were to be the ushers.
George William Gramlich and Florence Elizabeth Todd were married on November 11, 1961, at 6:00 in the evening, at Woodlawn Heights Presbyterian Church � the place where it all began. The reception was held at Patricia Murphy�s Candlelight Restaurant in Yonkers. There were about 100 guests in attendance. For their honeymoon, the happy couple drove to Virginia where they spent a few days in newlywedded bliss before George reported for duty at Ft. Eustis. It was short, but the years ahead would bring many more honeymoons for the Gramlichs.
The Future
After George returned from his peacetime tour of duty in Korea, the couple settled in Yonkers and remained there until 1966, when they had a new home built in the Parlin section of Sayreville, New Jersey, about 30 miles southwest of Manhattan. In April of 1968, they welcomed their first child, Jocelyn Renee; the birth of son Jonathan Todd followed in January of 1971. And so, with kids, dogs, cats, birds, goldfish, and eventually grandchildren�
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