Dress symbolizes generations of love, faith
When Charles and Margaret Fryman were wed on July 19, 1939, they didn’t know they were about to build a foundation of love and faith that would last through the next three generations of their family.
To honor that love and faith, Hannah Fryman, Charles and Margaret’s great-granddaughter, wore Margaret’s wedding dress for her engagement photos.
On April 30, 2022, she and Josh Updegraff became engaged after six months of dating. Just like her great-grandparents, Hannah and Josh met at church. Their photo shoot took place Oct. 9.
“I hung onto (the dress) after she passed away,” Hannah said. “I was thinking, ‘Oh, I want to wear this one day,’ but I hadn’t met Josh at that point. (The dress) holds so much meaning to me because they had been married for 75 years and had a true love story that I wanted to hold onto and I wanted that of my own.”
According to the obituary in the Sharon Herald, Margaret Fryman passed away Nov. 17, 2016, at the age of 97. Charles Fryman passed away several years before on Nov. 4, 2009, at the age of 92.
Hannah said, “At the reception we are going to have a table that says, ‘If heaven wasn’t so far away, we know you’d be here today,’ with photos of her and a couple of other grandparents.”
Robert Fryman, Charles and Margaret’s grandson and Hannah’s father, described his grandmother as “a fantastic pie baker” and his grandfather as a family man. He described their relationship as “an example of unwavering love.”
“Their house was a special place; you always felt welcomed and loved,” Robert Fryman said. “My grandfather, every time we’d bring the grandkids in, he was always excited, and it was always, ‘Where did you come from?’ He’d always act surprised every time they’d walk in the kitchen to see him sitting there.”
Hannah and her family were very close with her great-grandparents, spending Friday nights with them often.
“I feel like they set the stage and the expectation of what true love really is,” Hannah said. “They spent 75 years together, and that’s a whole lifetime with someone. It meant so much to me to know them and their character, who they are and know my heritage too.”
The Frymans have a history of honoring Charles and Margaret. On their 50th wedding anniversary in 1989, Robert and his wife, Mary, were wed.
The floor-length navy blue dress has short sleeves and is covered in floral patterned lace. According to Hannah, the dress needed very few alterations and was originally purchased at Jaffe’s, a retail chain that operated throughout Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan from 1924 until the early 1980s.
According to Mary, Margaret’s dress was the oldest dress the seamstress had ever altered and was impressed that the dress was in such good shape.
Robert said his grandmother wore it on occasion throughout her life, especially on her 50th wedding anniversary. “She would try to get it out and see if she could still put it on. It was a special thing for her to do,” he said.
With how much love Hannah has for her great-grandmother, Robert was not surprised when Hannah wore her dress for her engagement photos.
“We kind of figured it might happen; we knew how special it was,” Robert said. “When she passed away, that was one thing that we kept. I thought it might happen someday.”
While Robert may have predicted his daughter wearing the dress, seeing Hannah in the dress didn’t make it any less emotional for him.
“I’m so thankful for the relationship that both our daughters had with my grandparents, and they got to see what I enjoyed as a child with my grandparents as well,” Robert said. “It’s a special thing to get to see your kids have. It shows that bringing up a child that respects and loves their grandparents, and all of those Friday nights, (it shows) how special they were.”
1939 was a busy year for Charles and Margaret, as they were engaged on St. Patrick’s Day, married four months later on July 19, and built their family home in Harrisville.
In the future, Hannah and Josh — who will be married on June 9 — plan to purchase and live in Charles and Margaret’s home.
