75 years of marriage and counting
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One of the longest married couples in Ontario is celebrating their wedding anniversary Tuesday. Roy and Ethel Bird of Dunnville tied the knot 75 years ago. In an age where nearly half of marriages end in divorce, their milestone is a rare one.
It’s an achievement so uncommon, Roy and Ethel Bird’s daughter, Anne Waldman, couldn’t find a 75th anniversary card: “To be married so long is quite incredible.”
Roy met Ethel in England when he was 19-years old. For him, it was love at first sight: “I saw a girl on a bike with two strands of hair down her face.”
They courted for two years and tied the knot in 1939 before Roy enlisted: “The war was coming and we didn’t have a whole lot of time, so we just got married.”
With him in the army, the first few years of their marriage were spent mostly apart. Visits were rare and brief, but they quickly built a family.
Ethel: “Every time he came on leave from the army, he left a baby.”
They say the time spent apart made their marriage stronger. That, and a good sense of humour.
Anne Waldman: “Dad’s a bit more serious and Mum’s a bit more bubbly. So she makes him laugh and he tethers her at least a little bit to the ground.”
After 75 years together, half in England and half in Ontario, Roy and Ethel still enjoy each other’s company.
Jayne Boer is a granddaughter: “They do about a half an hour walk and they sit down at the bench at the end of the road here. And they just talk or watch nature. For couples hoping to match their milestone, they have one rule to live by: never go to bed angry.”
Ethel: “We’ve never held an argument from day to another day. We’d just argue and then forgot about it.”
While the Bird’s anniversary is a major one, they still have a ways to go before they break any records. Canada’s longest marriage lasted 81 years. And the Guinness world record for the longest marriage is held by a couple from North Carolina. They were married for 86 years. So Roy and Ethel — congratulations, and don’t give up yet.
