As Alison Ferrell prepared to marry the love of her life, Matthew, she carefully chose what would be her something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue... An age-old wedding tradition.
The wedding ring her grandmother once wore and left her would represent something old, a brand-new necklace from her soon to be husband was her something new, borrowing her grandmother’s bracelet to wear on her special day would be what she borrowed.
To her, choosing what would be her something blue was the easiest decision of all.
Alison’s uncle, Bill Lee Eblen, first wore his dress blues when he joined the United States Marines Corps in 1943 at age 18. He was a sergeant in combat during the battle of Naha in Okinawa during WWII. He later served as an active member in the Air Force during the Korean War.
May 13, 2017, he got to put on his dress blues again, for a very special occasion.
“Coming from a close-knit family where I was taught to have respect and admiration for those in the armed services, this felt like a natural choice to have Uncle Bill there in his dress blues.”
So, when Eblen was in the hospital, battling pneumonia last fall, Ferrell asked her beloved uncle if he would be her ‘something blue’ on her wedding day. With that motivation, Eblen had the fight in him to pull through.
"What's your goal?" One of the nurses asked him. "To be her ‘something blue’ on her wedding day," Eblen replied from his hospital bed.
“He happily accepted and made it his personal goal throughout his rehabilitation process,” Ferrell said.
“There were a lot of people who thought he might not make it there for my wedding day. I didn't doubt him- he is a Marine after all,” Ferrell said.
Ferrell has always been close with her uncle. "I see the same love and kindness in you that I did in your mother and grandmother," was one thing he once told her that she will always remember.
“I felt a tremendous amount of pride and it genuinely brought me a lot of joy to see how happy he was that day.”
Uncle Bill said he was "elated and felt very special” to be her something blue.
Those who attended the wedding were incredibly moved by seeing Uncle Bill as Ferrell’s ‘something blue’. “They thought it was a really beautiful and unique thing to do,” Ferrell said as she recalled her special day. Imageclairity was able to capture the beautiful moment for Ferrell and Uncle Bill to cherish forever.
