S. Annville couple to renew wedding vows under a crossed sword salute

Imagine walking down the aisle at the end of your wedding ceremony with a row of Civil War officers on either side with sabers upraised as you and your significant other head toward your new life together.

Earl Weaver and his wife, Donna, will do that Sunday as they renew their wedding vows at Gettysburg.

The Weaver’s 50th wedding anniversary was May 6, but they waited to renew their vows so they could have a ceremony at the re-enactment of the battle at Gettysburg while portraying Robert E. Lee and his wife Mary.

“We were always involved in history, and for the last 20 years, Civil War history,” Earl Weaver said. “I started to portray Robert E. Lee about seven years ago – you have to get gray to a certain extent to do that.”

Earl and Donna, who are both 69 years old and retired from Hershey Foods, got into Civil War reenactment together.

“She talked me into it,” Earl Weaver said. “If it wasn’t for her I probably wouldn’t have done it myself, but it is a great thing for us to share in our retired life.”

A random conversation with a Gettysburg park ranger led to the Weaver’s introduction to the re-enactment world.

“A park ranger told me I look like Robert E. Lee,” Earl Weaver said. “We were there in the wintertime just sitting and having some coffee, and I had a beard at the time and they told me that. I was kind of shocked at the whole thing.”

The Weavers, who were both born and raised in Lebanon County, married in 1967 a year and a half after meeting at a YMCA dance they attended after graduating from high school.

The couple, who have lived in South Annville for the entirety of their life together, are members of the Gettysburg Anniversary Committee and the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association as well as some other re-enactment groups.

People looking to get into one of the groups typically call and ask what characters are available to portray, or if someone has a particular favorite they want to portray they can ask if that character is available, Weaver said. Weaver found Robert E. Lee was available when he joined.

“The character of Robert E. Lee is very popular here at Gettysburg – more so than the Union general who supposedly won the battle,” Weaver said. “I have a great character. I am fortunate that I look like him.”

The Weavers conduct lectures while portraying the Lees at reenactments where they discuss the lives their characters led during the Civil War era, so they are no strangers to being the center of attention at an event.

They are expecting about 600 spectators at their ceremony along with several re-enactors portraying Confederate generals as well as each general’s respective entourage.

“We will have General James Longstreet – General Lee’s second-in-command for the First Corps – and he’ll have his staff there, plus there will be three or four other generals including General Lewis Armistead and General Jubal Early – I’m not sure who else will be there yet,” Weaver said.

The preacher who is conducting the ceremony is a re-enactor from Binghamton, N.Y., who is an ordained in minister in his day-to-day life.

“Richard Gow portrays General Armistead, and he is an ordained minister,” Weaver said. “He’ll probably be wearing a black chaplain’s coat or vest, but he’ll be hanging around for most of the day as General Armistead – he’ll be the preacher just for the wedding.”

The ceremony will be conducted as an authentic Civil War era wedding, Weaver said. Once the hour-long ceremony concludes, the Weavers – as the Lees – will walk away from the ceremony under a crossed sword salute.

“That’ll be at the end of the service at the end of the tent,” Weaver said. “All of the generals and all the officers I have there will be involved in that.”

The re-enactment weekend begins Saturday, and the wedding ceremony will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday in the main tent at 965 Pumping Station Road, Gettysburg.

Visit http://www.gettysburgreenactment.com/ for more details.