California
GOLDEN
WEDDING
CELEBRATED BY
JESS AND PEARL WERLY
Mariposa Gazette, May 24, 1962
GOLDEN WEDDING
CELEBRATED BY
JESS AND PEARL WERLY
More than a hundred friends and relatives gathered at an open house at
the J. C. Werly ranch on Sat., April 28th, to help Pearl and Jess Werly
celebrate “50 good and fruitful years.”
Fifty years ago Pearl I Hall became the bride of Jesse C. Werly in a
ceremony performed by the Rev. C. K. Westfall at the home of the brides
parents, Mr. and Mrs. Fremont Westfall.
Pansy Westfall, the brides cousin and L. A. Werly, the grooms brother
attended them. Pauline
Westfall was the flower girl. After the reception they traveled by
horse and buggy to Mariposa and registered at the Schlageter Hotel. The
next
day they took the stage coach to Bagby to board the train for a
honeymoon trip to San Francisco and Los Angeles. The returned to make
their first home at The Jerseydale Ranger Station where Jess was with
the Forest Service. He was a Ranger for thirteen years. They
homesteaded
the ranch on which they now reside in 1913 and until 1951 when Jess
retired from the So. Cal. Ed. Co. As Field Man, they combined ranching
with Jess’s timber criusing occupation, which found Pearl running the
ranch during the summers. After retirement Jess concentrated on his
heard of Angus cattle. They have a well known orange grove which was
started from seed and budded by Jess and supplies choice oranges for
the
vicinity.
Pearl was born in San Francisco and is the Daughter of James Albert
Hall, who was in Mariposa as the secretary to John Hite during the
operation of the Hite Cove Mine. He married Isabelle Smither and they
lived in San Francisco. Pearl settled with her mother and step-father,
Mr. and Mrs. Fremont Westfall at the Bailey Flat ranch at the age of
five years. Jess is the son of Mr. and Mrs. S. A. Werly and was born in
Pine Grove, Cal. His people were early settlers in Volcano and Jackson
and engaged in ranching and mining. The Werlys have two children, Mrs.
R. A. (Isabelle) English, Carmichael, and Clyde Werly, Northfork. There
are three grandchildren, Don English, Caroline and Virginia Werly and
one great grandchild, Debora Daine English.
The Werly home was decorated with roses from Parl’s beautiful garden.
The dining room table was covered with an heirloom lace cloth and
centered by the three tiered wedding cake which was flanked by
arrangements of small pink roses and gold candles. The roses were the
same variety as were used for decoration for the wedding fifty years
ago. Unusual was the presence of six of the wedding guests, brides maid
Pansy (Westfall) Cathey, John and Nora Westfall, Arch Westfall, John F.
Westfall and Clifford Westfall. Nora Westfall served the cake at the
wedding and repeated the ceremony at the Golden Wedding celebration.
As wel as friends from Raymond, Mariposa and Ahwahnee, guests came from
San Francisco, Oakland, Lafayette, Merced and Fresno. It was a
beautiful day and there was much reminiscing–the men recalling the
Baily Flat spring roundup and ladies, overnite [sic] horse back trips
to the Westfall ranch which is a short distance from the Werly home.
Submitted by Carol Lackey
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