Remembering weddings along the Riverwalk

I received an e-mail last Wednesday from Christine Rabinowitz via one of the Naperville Web sites I help manage. Classmates of the 1968 Naperville Community High School graduating class likely will remember her as Chris Rzeczkowski.

"I was just reading a little bit about my hometown," the former resident wrote from Bedford, Mass., noting that whenever she returns for a visit, she heads to the Riverwalk where she and her husband took their wedding vows in 1982.

"It is possible that we may have been the first, or one of the first, couples to be married at the Riverwalk," she wrote.

We began corresponding on a first-name basis. Chris asked about record-keeping for the Riverwalk, wondering if the city has kept a list of all the couples married there.

The Riverwalk was new in 1982 after being started in phases in 1981 to commemorate Naperville's sesquicentennial. I ask readers: does anybody recall who was first to be married on the Riverwalk?

Over the years, I've happened upon many weddings in the amphitheater and photo shoots at special locations while a limousine or the Naperville Trolley wait to take the wedding party to the reception. But even as a member of the Riverwalk Foundation, I'm unaware of any log that has recorded all nuptials during the growth of our natural treasure.

Initially, Chris said, officials told her that since she and her future husband no longer lived in Naperville, they couldn't be wed on the Riverwalk.

"Then Mayor (Chet) Rybicki intervened," she continued. "He sent a lovely letter giving us his blessings, saying he knew that I would always consider Naperville home. And, indeed, I do, even though it barely resembles the quaint farming community of 18,000 people residing there when I left for college in 1968."

Our e-mails traveled back and forth, reminding me how much I enjoy making connections with folks who used to live here and learning from their experiences.

I provided details about commemorative bricks and granite stones at the Exchange Club Memories Fountain in Fredenhagen Park.

I also mentioned that Mayor Rybicki is 92 now and attends Rotary Club of Naperville luncheon meetings every Thursday - when he's not traveling!

The mother of two sons in college explained that she "went away to school" at Northern Illinois University.

"I cried when we first entered the city of DeKalb, complaining to my Mom that I was sure they all sold corn seed in the back of every store," she wrote, comparing DeKalb to the "thriving metropolis" of Naperville with "real subdivisions."

She recalled driving from DeKalb to Naperville "the back way through Fermilab before they closed the gates there."

"When growing up, I remember we needed to locate Naperville as being between Lisle (they had skiing) and Aurora (big city) and similarly, we need to locate Bedford as being between Lexington and Concord, two towns that played major roles in the Revolutionary War," Chris wrote, noting that Bedford also is about 20 miles west of Boston, with a steady population of about 12,000.

"Bedford's claim is to have had the first flag of the war, although it was actually made for the earlier French and Indian Wars," she said, as we traded information.

"Much of the downtown Naperville still looks familiar, but it is the Riverwalk that keeps it charming. Thank you to everyone who planned it," she added.

I couldn't have said it better!

"Fredenhagen Park is nice, but I still wish I could visit Prince Castle for a triple sherbet cone. And I really like the train station, too," she said, adding details about meeting her husband at the University of Illinois and moving to Boston where she became homesick for cornfields.

"Our wedding took place at the little amphitheater area, across or close to the library," she said, getting back to the Riverwalk. "Is this area close to the Exchange Club Memories Fountain?..."

"Oh, my goodness! How things change! I better stop, I am starting to feel ancient," she wrote.

I know the feeling, I thought.

And speaking of weddings- My parents celebrated their 62nd anniversary on Valentine's Day back home in Muncie, Ind. When I talked to them Saturday, I asked about the cha-cha music in the background.

"Your dad put on the CD of dance music," my mother said, "And we just finished a few waltzes."

Stephanie Penick writes about Naperville on Tuesdays in Neighbor. Contact her at spennydh@aol.com.