Couple recreates unique wedding picture 4 decades after nuptials
No one would argue that Terry and Linda Thomas put the rev in forever.
The former Linda Ogorchock married Thomas on June 2, 1984, in a traditional ceremony at Christ Community Methodist Church on Duffy Road in Butler Township before hopping into the sidecar of her new husband’s 1977 Harley-Davidson Super Glide and roaring off to a reception at St. Michael the Archangel Church hall in Butler with her white veil flapping in the wind.
The couple, of Franklin Township, recreated a photo of the ride one day after their 40th anniversary on the very same bike.
Terry said the couple has enjoyed many rides all over the country on the bike in the years between the pictures.
“That motorcycle has seen a lot of places,” he said. “The speedometer broke 20 years ago, so I have no idea how many miles are on it.”
Terry recalls that his bride-to-be initially rejected his idea to ride between venues in the sidecar.
“At the last minute, she said ‘OK,’” he said. “Some of my other buddies rode with us.”
“We rode all the time,” Linda said of her change of heart. “I thought, just do it. Why not?”
The original photo shows Linda’s hair pulled back on top with a headband to which her fingertip-length veil was attached.
“The girl who did my hair pinned it on,” Linda recalled. “It wasn’t going anywhere.”
She said the large headband’s pearls and decorative scallops made it from the church to the reception hall as well.
Linda wasn’t worried about her dress as she gathered up her skirt and climbed into her new hubby’s sidecar.
“It was a one-day thing,” she said. “I’m a go-with-the-flow person.”
Linda was thrilled to participate in the recreation of the original photo.
“Who knew 40 years later we would still have the bike and I would still fit into my dress?” she said. “I am very blessed and grateful.”
Terry recalled meeting Linda at Fisher’s Sunoco on Main Street, where he worked.
“I had a Corvette and I asked her if she wanted to go for a ride, and she said ‘no,’ but I did see her the next night,” Terry remembered.
He spied Linda in the parking lot off Main Street in Butler across from the Burger Hut. In those days, young people cruised the main drag in their cars and hung out in the city’s municipal parking lots.
She relented and hopped into Terry’s ’Vette for a spin, and the rest is history.
The couple, who have four children and three grandchildren, have enjoyed many motorcycle rides over the years on the many bikes Terry has owned.
Today, he also has a 2005 Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail and a 2018 version of the same bike, which he drove to Alaska at one point.
The bike that ferried him and Linda to their reception is technically a Super Glide, but has been modified by Terry over the years.
“There’s very little original left on it,” he said.
He switched out the factory transmission for a three-speed transmission with reverse out of a 1966 Pittsburgh Police motorcycle.
“That’s also the year of the sidecar,” Terry said.
Asked if she would marry Terry all over again, Linda immediately replied “Absolutely.”
“In 40 years together, we’ve been through a lot,” she said. “I feel very blessed.”
Terry agreed, and offered advice to young couples on sticking it out for four decades.
“Do a lot of riding together,” he said.
