After 45 years, Joyce Rocker of Bettendorf decided it was time.
… Time to take out of the freezer the cake she and her husband Scott had saved from their wedding 45 years ago and either eat the perishable keepsake or throw it away.
Like many couples in the ’70s, the Rockers had saved the top tier to share on their one-year anniversary, but that turned out to be the day their daughter, Megan, was born, so they put it off.
Then one year became 10, became 20, became 30 and so forth.
Two things prompted Joyce to say this was the year. First, she recently happened upon the small bride-and-groom statue that topped the cake, reminding her that the cake was now in its fourth freezer, and second, when their house was without power after the Aug. 10 derecho, she had to take the contents of her freezer, including the cake, to her brother’s. Enough of this, she thought.
So on their anniversary date Monday, they invited John and Beth Kelser, of Bettendorf, who had been in their wedding party, to share the cake.
It was, as Rocker said, “terrible.”
“We tasted some of the icing and a little bit of the cake and that was it,” she said. “It’s now in a garbage bag.”
The Rockers were married at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Moline, with a reception in the John F. Kennedy School hall in Davenport. Both are now retired from their jobs. Scott worked at Douglas Industries, Eldridge, and Joyce taught at Glenview Elementary School, East Moline.
In addition to daughter Megan Gerst, they have a son, Zach, both of whom live in the Twin Cities area.
“It’s amazing how quickly that time goes by,” Rocker said. “Holy cow.”
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