Richard A. and Alvera N. Correll reminisce about 70 years of loving and living.
They have recently celebrated their wedding anniversary at Keystone Villa at Fleetwood. The Corrells were married January 25, 1945, notwithstanding a 59-mile journey to a courthouse during a major snowstorm, as well as some slight opposition from their families.
The Corrells met while they were attending Northeast Junior High School at 12th and Marion streets, Reading. Cupid’s arrow didn’t strike, however, until they met again while Vera was working at F.W. Woolworth Company at 6th and Penn streets, Reading (near Kresge’s Five & Dime and down the street from Pomeroy’s).
Vera said she was employed at Woolworth’s as a “change girl,” whose job it was to change $20 bills for the sales counter employees. One of those employees was Richard’s mother, Emma, who encouraged Vera to say “hello” to Richard.
“Richard came in one day, and I said ‘hi’ to him,” said Vera, “I hadn’t seen him since high school.”
Their relationship quickly took off, just like their first date, via a seven cents trolley car on Penn Street.
Theirs was a long-distance relationship until Richard was wounded as a Marine in 1944. He was transferred to a Philadelphia hospital as an outpatient.
“That is when we were able to spend more time together,” said Richard.
It was a cold and wintry day in 1945, a 19-year-old “Vera” N. Digiustili, of N. 9th Street, and 22-year-old Richard A. Correll, of N. 12th Street, were embarking on a new life together as they eloped to be married.
“We met at 8th and Green streets on the swinging bridge at the outer train station,” said Vera. “We took the train to Philly and then went to Elkton, Md., where there wasn’t a waiting period to get married. I was dressed in a royal blue suit with a red blouse, and Richard in a brown suit,” said Vera with a smile.
“There was a big snowstorm that day, and the cabbie rushed us to the courthouse just before it closed. The only officiate remaining at the courthouse was a rabbi. Our witnesses were the cab driver and the rabbi’s wife.”
The couple celebrated their nuptials with dinner and champagne at a nearby hotel restaurant.
“We came home the next day and told our parents that we were married,” said Vera.
Once Richard finished his military career at Camp Pendleton, Calif., he came home to Vera who was living with her parents in Reading and preparing for the birth of their daughter, Susan Correll.
They settled in Reading and Richard was first a salesman, then a supervisor for Armour & Company, a meat-packing plant. After Hurricane Agnes in 1972, the company transferred the Corrells to Watertown and then Buffalo, N.Y.
“Later, a friend in Pennsylvania begged me to come back and work in Reading and so we did,” said Richard.
Vera worked at Woolworth’s while in high school, then at the classified department of the Reading Eagle for nine years, and at the Wyomissing Public Library, Wyomissing, for 20 years.
“People getting married now, the divorce rate is higher,” said Vera. “What advice do I have? We shared everything and knew we couldn’t have the vacations – we lived with what we could afford. And, we cooperated.”
“We had some nice times. The Poconos vacation at Strickland’s Mountain Inn was the nicest, when Susan was six,” said Richard.
Richard added that the family would even vote while planning the family vacations.
“There has to be a lot of give and take, consideration, and realizing that you can’t do it all, or buy it all,” said Vera.
Richard, now age 92, and Vera, age 88, have two granddaughters: Erin, who lives in Texas, and Megan, who plans to graduate in April from Reading Hospital and work at a local hospital as an x-ray technician.
“We do everything,” said Richard, adding that they are both active in programs at Keystone Villa since moving in more than three years ago.
The happy couple said, we are still young at heart!
“We will celebrate our anniversary with a family dinner at a restaurant in the West Lawn area,” said Vera.
Keystone Villa at Fleetwood is a retirement community offering Independent Living and Personal Care to residents at a month-to-month rent, with no buy-in fees or hidden costs. To schedule a personal tour, call 484-637-8200 or log onto www.KeystoneVilla.com.
