MINISTER, 102, ATTENDS DAUGHTER'S 50TH ANNIVERSARY

It's a wonder when the minister who performed the wedding ceremony and the father of the bride are both around to attend a couple's 50th anniversary. For Virginia and Fred Goodwin, that wonder is wrapped up in the same person, the Rev. Walter Keisker.

Keisker, who turned 102 last month, was a special guest Saturday at the Goodwins' golden wedding anniversary party at the Cape Girardeau Country Club. Also attending were some members of the wedding party: Dr. Jack Hensley, L.J. Shivelbine, Joan Illers and Ruth Illers.

Keisker has been a constant in the Goodwins' marriage. "The church we were married in is gone, the parsonage I grew up in is gone, our apartment is gone, but Daddy's still here," Virginia said.

He recalls the day his daughter made the important announcement. "You told me Fred was going to be the one."

He allows that "Fred was a pretty good boy," but Virginia says he wasn't sure about Goodwin at first.

"He did play in a dance band."

Goodwin played the trombone in various bands throughout his adult life.

He was still a month away from being 21 when they married. He recalls the afternoon of Aug. 4, 1951, was cool and clear, the temperature only about 60 degrees. "We couldn't have picked a better day," he says.

Keisker, who was the pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Jackson, Mo., for more than 50 years, is locally famous for having an encyclopedic memory he's happy to use. But he can't recall the message he gave when he performed the ceremony uniting his daughter in marriage.

After all, he points out, that was half a century and many marriage ceremonies ago, but makes no such excuses about being 102.

His daughter doesn't remember what her father said during the marriage ceremony either. "I remember you talked a long time," she kidded.

When they married, the Goodwins both had just signed contracts to begin their teaching careers with the Jackson schools, he as a communications teacher and debate coach, she as a music teacher. She quit teaching after a year and opened a piano studio in their home.

Their three children -- Deborah Patterson, Mark Goodwin and Nancy White -- and three grandchildren -- Michael, Jennifer and Stacy Goodwin -- were among the guests Saturday.

Former Southeast dean

He retired in 1988 after a distinguished career as a professor of debate and communication at Southeast Missouri State University. He was the dean of the College of Humanities. Since then he has toured the state as a speaker on First Amendment issues and taught some courses at Southeast when needed. In 1993 the Missouri Humanities Council gave him the Acorn Award, given for outstanding contributions to public humanities programming.

The Goodwins have spent much of their retirement traveling. They leave soon on a hiking trip to the Grant Tetons.

Both graduated from Southeast in 1951. They honeymooned in St. Louis, where the groom took his new bride to a doubleheader between the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Giants. She supposes he wanted her to develop an interest in the sport he loves. She was miserable.

"At the seventh inning when everybody stood up, I thought we could leave," she said.

Her husband has a different memory of the day. "The Giants had just brought up a young outfielder named Willie Mays," he said. "He went 0-for-5."

Disagreeing about baseball and other things is OK in a marriage, she says.

"We're very different. I'm fast, he's slow. I rush, he thinks."

Her husband has "gotten sweeter" since they married, she says. "He's the easiest person in the world to live with."

His wife hasn't changed, he says. "She's the person I knew when we married."

Whether they know it or not, the couple has indeed changed over 50 years of marriage, Keisker says, returning his daughter's jab.

"They've grown up."