A Wedding on Shipboard - 1923
Mr. and Mrs. G. J. Huber, Bride and Groom, With the Hon. W. J. Bryan, Who "Gave Away" the Bride.—Photo Loaned by Toledo Metal Furniture Company. GGA Image ID # 160345ab90
A schoolday romance reached a happy culmination on Saturday evening, 11 November 1922, on the good ship "Ecuador," when Godfrey John Huber, a prominent member of the American colony at San Salvador, was married to Miss Helen Dickerson Hitch. The wedding was solemnized on the high seas between San Jose, Guatemala, and La Libertad.
The ceremony took place in the main dining room of the steamer. The room was beautifully and appropriately decorated for the occasion, all of the passengers vying with each other in suggesting novel and ingenious features. Captain Thomas Fleming officiated, and although this was the first marriage ceremony he had ever been called upon to perform, he handled the affair with grace, dignity and solemnity.
Miss Harriet Hollingshead of Chicago, who accompanied Miss Hitch from the United States, acted as bridesmaid. R. J. Sharp acted as best man. The bride was "given away" by the Hon. William Jennings Bryan, who knew the fathers of the bride and groom and happened to be a passenger on the boat.
Colonel Bryan entered with zest into the spirit of the occasion, and, in congratulating the newlyweds, expressed the hope that the union would be as fruitful of happiness as that of Mrs. Bryan and himself had been.
Colonel Bryan and the Hon. Boas W. Long, formerly United States minister to Salvador, signed the ship's log as witnesses to the marriage.
All of the officers and passengers of the "Ecuador" were guests at the wedding and after the ceremony celebrated the event and "Armistice Night" with a merry party which continued until the early morning.
Colonel Bryan facetiously announced that if there were any other young couples on board who contemplated getting married, he and captain Fleming were ready to do their part toward helping them on their way.
The groom is a son of Dr. and Mrs. Charles Huber of Cincinnati, O., and a partner in the firm of E. E. Huber & Co., San Salvador and Tegucigalpa, who represent American office furniture and other lines.
The bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. G. Hitch of Terre Haute, Indiana.
The young couple spent their honeymoon at Lake Coatepeque. They returned to San Salvador December 1, where they will make their home.
Office Appliances, January 1923, p. 135.
