The Fabricator
Couple Attends Opry’s 75-year, 14-week Celebration
Bessie and Boyd Bonner, a retired couple from Dayton, Ohio, say they had a great time last Saturday night as the Grand Ole Opry celebrated its 75-year-and-14-week anniversary.
“We saw Billy Walker, Del Reeves, and Skeeter Davis,” an enthusiastic Mrs. Bonner says, her eyes shining. “We also wanted to see the 4 Guys and the Fruit Jar Drinkers, but you can’t have everything,” Mr. Bonner says. “Maybe next time.”
“And those Melvin Sloan Dancers,” says Mrs. Bonner. The couple, celebrating their 67th wedding anniversary, drove to Nashville in their 1974 Ford LTD. “We got 26 miles to the gallon, and, because I keep the speedometer on a safe and sensible 45 miles per hour, we got down I-65 in only 10 hours,” Mr. Bonner notes.
“He took me out to Shoney’s before the Opry,” Mrs. Bonner recalls. “I got the soup and salad bar and a half-pound ground-round dinner, and he got the soup and salad bar and the fried chicken.”
Mr. Bonner says the two used their AARP discount at the Sleep Inn Motor Lodge and got their room for only $48 plus tax. “It was a big night,” he says. “I’ll bet we didn’t get to bed until 10:30 or 11 o’clock.”
“We were going to call our son Wendall back home and tell him about it—he’s assistant manager of the Food Lion out by the Wilmington highway—but it was so late I was afraid we’d wake him up,” Mrs. Bonner says. “I was so keyed up I didn’t get to sleep for a long time. I just kept playing everything over and over in my mind.”
Recalls Mr. Bonner: “Porter Wagoner said something real funny that you liked a lot, but I can’t remember what it was.”
The Opry will have its 75-year-and-14-week anniversary only once, Mrs. Bonner says, and “we can say we saw it.”
Recalls Mr. Bonner: “Porter Wagoner said something real funny that you liked a lot, but I can’t remember what it was.”
The Opry will have its 75-year-and-14-week anniversary only once, Mrs. Bonner says, and “we can say we saw it.”
