A 60+ Year Love Story: Lessons in Laughter, Life, and Long-Lasting Love

How did your grandparents first meet?

“Although they were both at the same secondary school in 1955, and knew each other by sight, they didn’t actually meet until 1957 at Upper Deal Youth club in Kent. Amazingly, it was my Grandad’s girlfriend who introduced them to each other! My Nan had always thought he looked like a really nice boy. I remember him describing himself as a teddy boy in his youth, and my Nan knew there was something special about him. When they met, my Nan felt she had always known him. She knew that although he had a girlfriend at the time, they would be together soon. Their first date was at the cinema! My Nan knew there would never be anyone else, and that was how it all started.”

What have you heard about the start of their story?

“I remember them both recalling one of their early encounters at the beach parlour in Deal – back in the 50s, there were cafes for milkshakes everywhere, you can just imagine the iconic seaside settings. They spotted each other through a window, and that’s a core memory for both of them.”

Every couple goes through challenges – what kinds of ups and downs have you seen them face, and how do you think they got through them together?

“To be honest, I haven’t seen them face much myself, being their grandson, I’ve been protected from much of that. However, I’ve heard some stories. The financial struggles at the beginning of their marriage were testing, but they overcame the tests with a different kind of grit. I think of some of the difficulties and trauma my Grandad faced with his mining work, which were tough – the cage lift they would take up and down from the coal face would often gather the chain at the top of the lift and suddenly drop which took the lives of many miners, and knowing my Grandad had to ride that every day must have been scary. Or the casualties my Grandad would be on call for when he was a paramedic would be like war zones. I think where my Nan decided to be a housewife and mother at home after their wedding was a decision where she could emotionally and physically support my Grandad when he got home from the graft that was his work. Though they have friends, many of whom have passed now, they are each other’s best friends, and I think it’s that which has kept them together through the decades.”

Watching them, what do you think they’ve taught your family about love and sticking together?

“They’ve demonstrated that when you’re married, you are a team and you are always there for your children. I remember before my wife and I decided to try to have children, I asked my grandparents for their advice. They said, “If you can make space in your life to have children, go for it. But if your careers and ambition are your goals, of which there’s nothing wrong with that, we would think it would be difficult”. They have also shown that you don’t have to follow the same habits as your parents – their parents were lovely, but very reluctant and unwilling to look after grandkids for a day or a night. So, they took it on themselves to always be there to look after their grandkids. In a world where people can be flashy or striving, they have shown what it means to live a joyful yet quiet life, which I feel a sense of calling to as a Christian.

I think they have also taught me to always have a sense of humour, even in the face of tricky times. I have a tendency to be very serious, but my Grandad has always had a skill of making people laugh (which I would have loved to have inherited!)”

Over the years, how have you seen their relationship change or grow?

“As they retired, I have seen them massively enjoy their hobbies and their dogs. When many of their friends were winding down and using the excuse “oh, I’m too old for that”, they had the mindset of “use it or lose it” and carried on with strength. Other than that, I haven’t really seen the relationship change, and really, I think that is where the gold is. Choosing to be consistent with the love that they had from the moment they said I do.”

Do you know any little stories – funny arguments, quirky habits, or inside jokes that show what they’re like as a couple?

“I remember as a family we had a weird inside joke where my parents were given a wine dispenser in the shape of a small boy going to the toilet (you can use your imagination there), and every birthday or anniversary, my parents would try and palm off the present to my dad’s sister, and they would do the same. Fast forward to a holiday that we all went to in Rome with my grandparents, my family and our cousins. We were in a particularly holy space, and my dad had somehow smuggled in this wine dispenser and put it on top of a display stand. I don’t know how the security guards didn’t notice! But when my Nan saw it, she got very embarrassed and nervous, yet when my grandad saw it, he burst out laughing, and I think that pretty much sums up my grandparents.”

Looking at their life together, what do you think they’re most proud of?

“I know I’m one of them, but I would say their answer would be the children and their grandchildren and now their great-grandchildren. You always pray that your children grow up in a healthy way and make good decisions, but you can never force that. Yet I think they’ve been blessed to see both their children marry good partners, be financially stable, have their health both physically and mentally, and their children have the same.”

If you had to describe their love in just a few words or tell one story that sums it up, what would it be?

“Forever-ever love, doing life with determination and a silly sense of humour.”