When we married in 1966, it was customary for brides-to-be to register with a local department store for her choice of china, silverware, and glassware for guests to bestow the new couple with as wedding and shower gifts. But I didn’t want anything that needed to be polished or coddled. So I chose Centura, which was strong class ceramic break resistant tableware, which had been launched in 1962.

Centura was made by Corning, the manufacturer of microwave safe casserole dishes. As a wedding gift, Aunt Darlene gave us a set of three Corningware Blue Cornflower casserole dishes, which we still have.

Guy’s Grandma Walker and Aunt Verda gave us a set of stainless steel flatware, which we still use every day. Other gifts were white bedspreads, a toaster, snack trays, juice glasses, table cloths, a deep fat fryer, rugs, sheets, folding chairs, and a percolator.

Shower gifts included several candy dishes, cookbooks, mixing bowls, towels, a picnic basket, several chip and dip sets, kitchen utensils, a pizza pan, cake plates, even a clothes basket along with clothespins.

Grandma Ruby Neal’s traditional shower gift was a wicker basket filled with a homemade apron, dish cloths, and a handy note pad and pencil for grocery lists.

We were married May 29, 1966. The Vietnam War loomed and Guy was in a delayed enlistment program with the US Air Force. His active duty didn’t begin until that August. After he went through Air Traffic Control tech school that winter in Biloxi, Mississippi, he was assigned to Mountain Home AFB, Idaho. These wedding dishes were too bulky to take with us–we moved to Idaho in the 1963 Chevy, so we bought a set of Melmac dishes, since they all fit in one box.

When Guy was ordered to Vietnam in 1969, we moved back to Iowa. All of the Corningware dishes were still stored in my folks’ attic until Guy got a job with the FAA in Colorado, 1971.

We still use Aunt Darlene’s Corningware bowls often, and those Centura dishes every day.

Here’s a link to a favorite dessert which was served at one of my bridal showers.

“Just Bob F.” sent the first comment, which would have made a better title! “It’s good to celebrate things that last: faithful marriage and sturdy tableware.”