Str. NATCHEZ 30 years ago this week

[David Tschiggfrie]

Today, Flag Day, marks the 30th wedding anniversary for my wife Debbie and me. We arrived in New Orleans and the Royal Orleans Hotel the next day, Sunday, June 15, 1980, to spend our honeymoon in the Crescent City. We took the customary carriage tour of the Quarter, the Gray Line city tour, saw the Garden District from the St. Charles streetcar, and dined at Brennan's, Court of the Two Sisters, the Rib Room at the Royal Orleans, had a special Creole meal at Corrine Dunbar's on St. Charles Avenue, and of course, made several visits to the Cafe du Monde. And (for the benefit of Capt. Jim if he's checking out this posting), we returned to Dubuque via Amtrak over what remained of the splendor of the ICRR's "Panama Limited" in a Pullman sleeping car with diner, and connected in Chicago to what was the Burlington-Northern "Blackhawk" to East Dubuque, IL. A wonderful trip!

In looking through those photos today, I found some shots of one other thing we "squeezed into that trip": a couple of excursions on the NATCHEZ, if you can imagine us doing that! The first of the three photos below show my lovely bride of one day at the Toulouse Street Wharf with the NATCHEZ, where we headed immediately after checking into our hotel. Pictures two and three show yours truly with Capt. Doc Hawley taking turns the next afternoon at the keyboard before the boat's afternoon departure. I'll also post three more pictures taken that week of a very young Doc Hawley and an even younger and slimmer "Fishfry". Please excuse the haziness of these shots, as they're all copied with my digital camera from the original prints. Can't remove the pictures from the wedding album to scan them properly since they're glued in good and tight!

[David Tschiggfrie]

NATCHEZ 30 years ago this week - Part 2

And the three other shots below were snapped as Capt. Hawley helped me get "posted up" on things with the NATCHEZ since I'd only been aboard once before while working on the DELTA QUEEN. The final shot shows Doc with pilot Steve Nicoulin as we watched the sights in the harbor tour that afternoon. Ah, the memories . . . Debbie now says that she had no inkling of what the weather in NOLA would be like in mid-June, but thinks that it might be a tad more difficult to get her to make another summertime visit there nowadays. But for two newlyweds back then, who cared about the heat and humidity? Those were the days!

[Jim Blum]

Congratulations to you and the Bride! Annie & I send you our best regards to you and Debbie and best wishes for many more Anniversaries!

Ah yes, the Panama Limited, a fine train to the end.

[Judy Patsch]

30 years ago

A red white and blue salute to the two of you on the 30 years! I don't remember the exact date, because it was no special occasion, but my first ride on the NATCHEZ was in June of 1980. I had just arrived in town via the DQ, and Ann Zeiger and Kathy Lake were getting ready to board the DQ for the upstream trip. So we rode the same NATCHEZ trip. I remember sitting on the lazy bench and saying something about the AVALON, and Doc's head whipped back: "AVALON?" He couldn't believe he had someone on board who remembered the AVALON. Turns out he had had MR. AVALON on board a bit eariler!

[Bob Reynolds]

And congrats from me, too, Dave! It seems like it was just a few years ago. Do you remember what you, Jim and I cracked up about right before the ceremony?

[Keith Norrington]

Congratulations to you and Debbie upon three decades of wedded bliss! My dear parents will observe their 57th anniversary in August and I hope that you and Deb have that many and more! A long and two shorts of the whistle to ya!

[David Tschiggfrie]

Bob and friends,

For the life of me I can't say that I do remember what the three of us might have been thinking or laughing about that morning. Considering all the things that we shared and experienced during those years together on the DQ, my mind boggles at the possibilities, however! Your memory here is probably much better than mine, I confess.

Thank you all for your kind wishes and thoughts on our anniversary. It has indeed been a memorable and joyful thirty years for both of us, and Debbie and I are honored to have shared so many of those years with all of you. Can't wait to see what the next thirty years hold in store!

[Matthew Dow]

Dave,
An appropriate New Orleans harbor salute to you and your wife Debbie on your 30th anniversary. And thanks for this pictures. I like how in the back of the 2nd picture you posted of you and Capt. Hawley, one can see the old JAX Brewery that used to be there before. Very interesting!