A Special Friday the 13th

According to the story told to me by my father, it was on Friday the 13th that the Halsey Christian Church and the Harrisburg Christian Church had a party. My father, Lester Albertson who was a member of the Halsey church, attended that party. My mother, Wilma Falk who was a member of the Harrisburg church, also attended that party. Wilma and her younger sister Lois were brought to the party by someone who has never been identified to me. But he or she had to leave early so Wilma and Lois needed a ride home. They lived about halfway between Halsey and Harrisburg and Lester agreed to take them home. So my father always thought that Friday the 13th was a day to celebrate, since later he and my mother were married for over 48 years until her death.

In thinking about this I began to wonder exactly which Friday the 13th was that fateful party. My father's baptismal certificate was dated March 28, 1928. Among my father's belongings which I found after his death was a group of letters which my mother had written to him before they were married. The earliest letter was dated October 4, 1929. So the Friday I was looking for should be between March of 1928 and October of 1929. Using a perpetual calendar, the following Fridays were found: April, 1928; July, 1928; and September, 1929.

My mother graduated from Harrisburg High School May 31, 1929. I couldn't remember any stories about her dating my father while she was in high school, so that would make September 13, 1929 the most likely date. Was there any other thing I could do to find it that was correct? I remembered that the Eugene Register-Guard was online at Google News Archive, so thought maybe I could check and see if there happened to be any mention of a church party on that date. Eugene is about 20 miles from Harrisburg and often included items from the surrounding areas. After browsing several of the online issues I hit paydirt. On September 18, 1929, the following item was found in the Harrisburg section: "The Halsey Christian Endeavor entertained the Harrisburg C. E. Friday evening. A number of the local members attended and report a fine time." I'm sure that my father always thought that he had a fine time on that Friday the 13th.