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youtubeRemembering Walt & Lillian's Anniversary by Diane Disney Miller
Wednesday, July 13, 2011 at 12:00PM 
My parents were married on July 13, 1925. It seems that all—or nearly all—of mother's large family were present at the wedding in Lewiston, Idaho. Her sister Hazel and her daughter Marjorie, along with mother, went up from Los Angeles. My father's family did not make the journey, for financial reasons, and I think that Roy and Edna (who had been married in April of that year) were not there for similar reasons.
Dad always honored this date with flowers. On their 25th anniversary, Sharon and I wanted to get them a special gift, and a good girlfriend of mine took us to a shop in Westwood Village that specialized in silver, crystal, and the like. We knew very little about this sort of thing, but I recall that both of us really wanted to do it. I would have been 16 1/2, she 13 1/2.
On one occasion, maybe 1960, Ron and I and my sister and her husband, Bob Brown, gave them an anniversary dinner in the wine cellar of the restaurant Scandia on the Sunset Strip. We invited three couples that we considered to be their "best friends" at that time: the architect Welton Becket and his wife Faye, the actor/US Senator George Murphy and his wife, Julie, and Jack and Peggy Bolton. Jack was an agent at MCA. They were really people that we felt comfortable with, too, and the wine cellar did not accommodate a larger group.
The only party that they ever gave to celebrate their anniversary…that I know of…was the wonderful event before the opening on Disneyland in July of 1955.
Reader Comments (4)
What a wonderful day to finish the biography of Walt Disney by Bob Thomas! It was such a touching narrative of his life and I didn't want to finish because I didn't want to read about his death. When I came to that part I cried but the part that made me the most tearful was the memory of Lillian Disney being escorted by Mickey Mouse at the opening of Walt Disney World. Walt Disney was forever a child at heart and he has helped me stay a child at heart. I only wish that I could thank him properly for the wonderful things he has done that have had a positive effect on my young life.
Thank you for sharing such a memorable occasion. I love reading about Walt and his family. My dad met Walt back in 1960 at a cancer clinic in Dallas, Texas. He visited the patients there and my dad was one of them. He went over there from Australia hoping for a cure. Unfortunately, he died early the following year. I remember him saying, on his return home, what a fine man Walt was and, I believe, they shared a lot in common, both being creative and artistic, and had lots to talk about. It is a real shame, too, that cancer took hold of Walt in 1966. God bless the Disney family for keeping the memories alive!
Thank you for sharing this wonderful memory with us. I just love looking at pictures of your family and the smiles on all of your faces. God bless!
Thank you so much for sharing this!