Sept. 6, 1926

William J. Miles weds Miss Verda Bennett

A wedding of much interest to friends in this community, that of Verda Eleanor Bennett to William J. Miles, was solemnized last Thursday, in Los Angeles. After a wedding breakfast at the home of the bride’s parents, the couple motored to Los Angeles, where the ceremony was performed at 5:40 by Aimee Semple McPherson in the living room of the evangelist’s home at the Angelus Temple.

Miss Vera Howe of Glendale, cousin of the bride, was maid of honor. The bride wore a dress of blue radio crepe, with grey shoes and hose and carried a beautiful bouquet of white asters and maiden hair fern. The maid of honor wore yellow crepe with white shoes and hose. After the ceremony, the wedding party was served a dainty French supper at a charming French cafe in Hollywood, and a most enjoyable evening followed in Hollywoodland.

The couple will spend a week around the Angel City and beach points before returning to Redlands where they will be at home to their friends at 420 Bond street, a beautiful new cottage completed by the groom a few months ago.

The bride, who is a daughter of Mrs. I.N. Lewis, is a talented young lady and an accomplished musician. She is a graduate of the Misner School of Dramatic Arts in Omaha, Nebraska, and also a graduate of the Music Department of the University of Omaha. For the past two years she has been Director of Music in the Mason School in Omaha.

The groom is in the plumbing business in Redlands.

Editor’s note: When celebrity evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson (1890-1944) officiated at the Sept. 2, 1926, wedding of Verda Bennett and William Miles, it was only a few months since she had mysteriously disappeared for about a month and then reappeared in Mexico, claiming she had been kidnapped.

Many Redlanders had seen McPherson in person when she had conducted an evangelistic campaign in Redlands in July 1925.

The bride’s mother, Mrs. I.N. Lewis, was likely Ora G. Lewis, listed in the 1925 and 1927 Redlands city directories as the wife of Isaac N. Lewis. It’s not clear where Verda and William Miles had their wedding breakfast in 1926, because Isaac and Ora Lewis are listed at 53 Nordina St. in the 1925 directory, but had moved to 232 S. Fourth St. by the time the 1927 directory was compiled. The 1927 directory also lists Isaac Lewis as a salesman for the E.M. Cope Commercial Co.

Sept. 11, 1926

Dwayne Orton and Edna Olson to wed

Dwayne Orton, star debater of the University of Redlands for several years, who graduated last year, and Miss Edna Olson, who was a junior in the university, are to be married at the South Park Baptist church in Los Angeles at 8 o’clock this evening by the Rev. Gordon Palmer formerly of the university.

It is to be a lovely wedding and among the Redlands friends who are to attend are Prof. and Mrs. E.B. Van Osdel, Mr. and Mrs. Max Dunlap, Louis Hammen, Carol Shallenberger, Morris Forbes, Lelia Gibbs, Elmer Hall and Margaret Wycliff.

After the wedding the young people are going to Belton, Texas, where the groom is to be head of the department of public speaking in Baylor College.

Editor’s note: Dwayne Orton, a 1926 graduate of the University of Redlands, began his career at Baylor College for Women (now the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, not Baylor University in Waco), but later went on to rise through the ranks at IBM, becoming editor of the company’s magazine, according to Larry E. Burgess in his 2006 book “With Unbounded Confidence: A History of the University of Redlands.”

Orton was a member of the University of Redlands Board of Trustees from 1967 to 1972 and was instrumental in the founding of the university’s Johnston College (now the Johnston Center for Integrative Studies), which opened in 1969. The university’s Orton Center is named for him.

Among the expected guests at Dwayne and Edna Orton’s wedding were several couples destined to tie the knot and whose names were apparently knotted up in misspellings in the Daily Facts’ story.

Carol Shallenberger was likely Carol Shollenbarger, a 1928 graduate who married Lewis Hammen, a 1926 graduate, according to a University of Redlands alumni directory.

Lelia Gibbs must be Leila R. Gibbs, a 1927 graduate listed in that alumni directory who married the Rev. J. Morris Forbes, a 1926 graduate.

And it’s a good bet that Margaret Wycliff was 1929 graduate Margaret Wickliffe who married the Rev. Elmer G. Hall, a 1926 graduate.

Sept. 11, 1926

Students wed at Phoenix

Mr. and Mrs. Max Dunlap have arrived in Redlands to spend the winter. This will be news to many of their friends here where they are popular students at the university, for Max Dunlap and Miss Elizabeth Hawkins of Phoenix, Arizona, were married just last week in Phoenix. Mr. Dunlap is a senior and Miss Hawkins was a freshman in the university last year.

Editor’s note: It was only about a week after their wedding that University of Redlands students Max and Elizabeth Dunlap attended Dwayne and Edna Orton’s wedding.

Articles are from the Redlands Daily Facts archive and are presented as they were written at the time.