Scooped on Our Wedding Day

The following story is by my husband Del. He claims it’s all true. I think it might be slightly embellished, yet…maybe not...at least from his point of view.

 This is his story:

 This story is ultimately about our wedding day, but before you can appreciate what happened to us, you’ve got to know a little bit about Trudy’s parents, Keith and Lucile Tibbitts.

 Lucile was raised on a farm in Shelton, Idaho. As a little girl she drank out of the ditch and basically ate the food raised and prepared on the farm. I’m sure she had eaten her fair share of bugs and dirt and she surely shared things with her brother and sisters as all kids do. Somewhere along the line she must have decided she didn’t want to eat bugs and dirt, nor have people playing with her food, for I’m told she relinquished her cherished candy bar simply because her brother barely touched it.

 

Keith and Lucile were really quite particular with cleanliness of food in their home and didn’t even like to, or actually wouldn’t, share food or drinks, even between themselves. Now everyone on the Tibbitts side of the family was aware of their affinity for clean-germ-free food. As the soon to be newest member of the family I had not yet had instilled within me the sacredness of this aspect of the Tibbitts’ culture. Consider that for a moment as I tell you about something else you need to know about the Tibbitts’.

 

 
Just short of their love for the gospel of Jesus Christ is their exuberance for all things ice cream. Family gatherings often included ice cream and they always had ice cream in their freezer for just about any occasion. It’s my understanding that one important aspect of their family vacations were making sure they discovered all of the good ice cream shops along the way. I was made keenly aware of this when I first met Trudy’s parents as they were on their way into an ice cream shop in Provo, Utah. I would later discover that Snalegroves was more than just an ice cream parlor, it was an adventure. My background was limited to thinking that Neapolitan was about as exotic as one needed to be, while the Tibbitts’ had association with every kind of berry, flavor, nut and topping. When they talked about ice cream, 31 Flavors really meant something. To this day, Trudy still likes to sample two or three flavors before she makes her selection. You can actually see it in the Tibbitts’ eyes as they approach the ice cream counter. Messing with their ice cream is just not something you would do lightly.

 

Now that you have a little background it will come as no surprise that having to drive from Hemet, California to the Los Angeles Temple we left making sure we were plenty early with the provision that if we didn’t encounter untoward traffic, we would have time to stop for some ice cream along the way. I thought that was a terrific idea and I knew Trudy would be excited about doing what she always had done with her family.

 

As we got down into the L.A. area, a little closer to the temple, we stopped at a Baskin Robbins/31 Flavors. It was pretty obvious that we weren’t the typical patron at this location. All of us were dressed in church attire and Keith, at the time, had a very nice yellow Cadillac that made us stand out. It was obvious we weren’t from the neighborhood. As we entered the shop we were in the process of making our selection when it became apparent that one of the counter attendants was busy cleaning and mopping the floor. As we got to the point that we were actually getting our ice cream he was now standing on the serving counter and with the same mop, was mopping around the ice cream containers. The worst part of it was, this was obviously routine and no one seemed to notice or be concerned about his activity.

 

I’m sure mom and dad Tibbitts have had other traumatic food experiences in their lives, but as I think back on that situation I can just feel the horror with which they must have viewed that ice cream treat. I’m pretty sure that Keith and Lucile may even feel a little bit queasy just reading about this, some 36 years later, but I have to tell you they are worthy of our greatest admiration for their love and devotion to their daughter on her wedding day. Not wanting to do anything that would distract from what was about to happen they pretended that everything was okay and they actually ate the ice cream. I’m quite sure they didn’t enjoy that ice cream nearly as much as they would have if it hadn’t of been served with a mop!

 

And so, this story about something that happened on our wedding day is ultimately about Keith and Lucile Tibbitts. Thank you for being the great people you are!