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This photo was taken by a photographer from The State newspaper. When Capt. Culler made it home in 1945, he and Ida held a civil ceremony. She wore a fox stole he brought her from India, a smart new coat and “an orchid corsage,” as a follow-up news account reported. Orchids, the captain noted, grow wild in India.
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The top left telegram was sent by Newton Culler on March 17, 1942. It reads:
“TODAY TAKE YOU BE MY LAWFUL WIFE IDA WEST CULLER ANSWER: NEWTON CULLER CARE AMERICAN CONSULATE KARACHI."
The bottom right telegram is Ida's reply on March 24:
“TODAY TAKE YOU BE MY LAWFUL HUSBAND NEWTON CULLER."
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This is the Culler's wedding announcement from The News and Courier newspaper in Charleston. Their unusual nuptials caught the eye of the Associated Press which sent it to newspapers across the country.
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News clipping of the Cullers's wedding from a St. Louis newspaper.
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These are the Cullers's wartime portraits:
“He carried that one of me the whole time. I kept this one of him."
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Ida Culler and her daughter Peggy Culler-Hair with Mrs. Culler’s scrapbook.
Photo by Walter Allread
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Ida Culler in 2013.
Photo by Culler's daughter, Nancy Jones
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Ida before she was married.
They look like movie stars in the yellowed news clippings: Ida West, a lovely young home economist, smiles serenely while Newton Culler, a handsome Army Air Corps reservist, projects calm strength.
“He was sort of a nice looking man!" recalls Ida, now 95.
You can almost imagine Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed playing the Cullers in a wartime
romance — let’s call it “Love Finds A Way” — based on their real-life nuptials and the headlines they inspired. The two, who met as teachers near Camden, had discussed marriage when World War II tore them apart.
It was a tumultuous time.
“I don't know how those little islands of Japan got so rambunctious,” says Ida, a Tri-County Electric member in Swansea.
Before they could tie the knot, her beloved was deployed to Karachi, India (now Pakistan). Undaunted, Capt. Culler, who passed away in 1985, showed that AllAmerican can-do spirit in getting their “I do’s” done.
Ingeniously, he sent his vows by cable. Endearingly, she cabled hers back.
It took a little time. His first cable, dated March 17, 1942: “TODAY TAKE YOU BE
MY LAWFUL WIFE IDA WEST CULLER ANSWER: NEWTON CULLER CARE AMERICAN CONSULATE KARACHI."
Cablegram offices in India and New York asked, “Is this an error?” On the receiving end, a Western Union operator in Bishopville had to be reassured it was legitimate. Ida’s reply went out that March 24th: “TODAY TAKE YOU BE MY LAWFUL HUSBAND NEWTON CULLER."
In April, their unusual wedding announcement appeared in state newspapers. The Associated Press picked the story up and ran with it — from Baltimore to St. Louis. “It made a good story,” Ida says.
Their photos appeared, sometimes alongside real-life movie stars’, under headlines like “Love Finds A Way Despite War,” all across America. Cupid played copycat: Couples from Carolina to Karachi asked the Cullers how they did it.
Hollywood never called but the couple did have a wonderful life. “He just took care of me,” says Ida, who still celebrates their anniversary every March 17.
Together, they raised three daughters, Peggy, Nancy and Frances, who gave Ida four granddaughters, a great-granddaughter and two great-grandsons. She sometimes props up the old photos and shows them the cablegrams “that started this whole thing.”