BOOTH WHO? - Washington State Digital Archives

Chapter Two: The curve ball
At the fashionably late hour of 9 o’clock on the evening of June 1, 1933, Evelyn
Beatrice Booth, chastely elegant in an ivory satin gown with a high neckline and mediumlength
train, entered the living room of her parents’ Seattle home on the arm of her
proud father. The groom, Bryson R. Gardner, awaited her at “an improvised altar of white
blossoms.” She carried three calla lilies, “their golden stamens being the only bit of
color about this exquisite white wedding ensemble.” Virginia Boren, the popular society
columnist for The Seattle Times, gave her readers all this and more in minute detail the
next day under a banner headline: BOOTH-GARDNER NUPTIALS HELD AT BRIDE’S HOME
Evelyn was thrilled when the columnist asked if she could attend the wedding,
and happier yet when the paper followed up with a photo and another story that Sunday,
hailing it as “one of the loveliest
weddings of the year.” The guest
list was “limited to members of the
bride’s and bridegroom’s families
and a circle of intimate friends who
had watched the couple grow from
childhood into womanhood and
manhood.” They were all enchanted
by the flower girl – Beverly Booth
of Wenatchee, the bride’s niece –
“an exquisite wee figure” in ruffled
organdy. “With a reverent hush falling
over the assembled guests,” the
Rev. Theodore Ryan conducted the
rites. Mr. Fred Lynch sang “Ah, Sweet
Mystery of Life,” accompanied by Miss
Frances Kelly, a cousin of the bride.
“At the reception which followed, Mrs.
William Gardner of Tacoma, sister-inlaw
of the bridegroom, poured.”
Like a Shirley Temple movie,
Society page readers surely found
Boren’s write-ups – classics in the
genre of 1930s journalistic gentility –
a pleasant respite from the real world
down by the tracks. A couple of miles
Evelyn Booth on her wedding day. Madeleine Sheahan, right, was the maid of
honor. Evelyn’s niece, Beverly Booth, was the flower girl. McBride & Anderson
Studio ©The Seattle Times (Seattle, WA) 1933 Reprinted with permission.
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