From Logansport to Wheaton

The following is edited from notes written by Ruth Bulander

It was those ten years in Logansport, Indiana that we as a family had so many rich experiences. The Depression of 1930 did much to teach us the values of life and gave us a great love for the salvation of men and women. We were blessed to see the physical care of people to the Christians [sic]. 

Marian was saved one Sunday night after we had come home from the church service where her father had been preaching. She said "Daddy, I don't want to go to hell" and was crying. That evening her father led her to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Dorothy was saved at the age of six and a half years as she was listening to her father preaching on the rapture of the church.

Marian graduated from the senior high school in 1940 receiving a certificate of membership in the National Honor Society based on scholarship, leadership, service, and character. The same week Dorothy graduated as valedictorian of her junior high graduating class. Now the girls were talking of the future.

Our daughters wanted to go to Wheaton College. The Lord sold our home for us in Logansport, Indiana and we moved to Wheaton in June of 1941. We were able to buy a two-story house near the school allowing us to offer rooms to five college girls. The Bulander home was a very happy and busy place for all who came and went, especially on weekends.

A new phase of the Lord's work was opening up for us. Little did we realize what or where the work would be. The second world war had thrust the U.S. into its conflict and with it wide open doors to serve the Lord.  Soon we would be involved in giving the Word of God to our soldiers at the Pacific Garden Mission's Servicemen's Center in Chicago.

In 1944, Lieutenant Larry Larson, Dorothy's future husband, was in Saipan on one o fhis missions. The bombs would not release from his B29 bomber and he had to climb out of the bomb pit and hang suspended some two thousand feet in the air between the plane above and Japan below in order to release the bombs. Either he or his plane was about to meet death. At that very same time I was awakened about 4 a.m. feeling a terrible burden for Larry's safety. "Underneath are the everlasting arms" came with tremendous force from the Lord as I lay awake praying. Larry released the bombs, pulled himself into the plane and saved the plane and crew. Praise the Lord.

Dorothy married Larry at the College Church in Wheaton on November 13, 1945 in a candlelight ceremony. George Beverly Shea opened up the service singing “I Love You Truly” and later sang “Because You Come to Me.” Claude first gave the bride away and then performed the ceremony with Mr. T. B. Gilbert assisting. The bride had an ivory satin gown with long train, and veil held by headpiece of orange blossoms. Her bouquet was an orchid with white pompons. The two bridesmaids and the maid of honor were dressed in orchid, carrying bouquets of yellow pompons. The best man and attendants were all return war veterans of only a few weeks who wore their different uniforms from the navy and the air corps. It was a lovely wedding with relatives and college friends attending.

And in 1945 a navy lieutenant, serving in the Far East, became very sick with pneumonia while in Shanghai at the end of the war. I was walking to the train in Wheaton on my way to the servicemen's center when I became burdened for the man that was to be Marian's husband. I prayed aloud as I walked the lonely street, asking that the Lord would take care of this man whoever he was and wherever he might be. The Lord healed Lieutenant Arthur Melvin and brought him back to Wheaton in 1946 where he met Marian as she sold tickets to the college alumni banquet.

Three months later on October 20, 1946 Marian married Art at Wheaton Bible Church. George Beverly Shea opened the wedding ceremony by singing “I Love You Truly” and “A Marriage Prayer.” Claude performed the ceremony assisted by Pastor Lloyd Fesmire. The bride wore a white dress of skinner satin with long train and veil, carrying a bouquet of red roses with a white orchid in the center. The maid of honor and the two bridesmaids wore royal blue velvet dresses and matching hats and carried bouquets of yellow daisies. The best man and the two attendants were college mates who had just returned from the war. The wedding took place on a Sunday afternoon followed by refreshments served by the Bible Church. The church was full of relatives, friends, and college classmates who had returned to the campus for Homecoming.