Aurora couple celebrates 70th wedding anniversary

While the world around Jack and Maisie Saul continues to change, their love for each other has remained constant over the past 70 years.

The Aurora residents were married on June 23, 1945, the doting husband said, pulling a wedding photograph out of his wallet that he has treasured close to his heart for the past seven decades.

The couple can’t recall the first time they met because they were small children whose families attended the same church. Over the years, the two became inseparable friends, participating in the many church community activities.

"Our first date was probably a hay ride, but it was so long ago, who can remember?" Maisie said with a smile.

More than half a century ago, Aurora was all farmland, and their families, living in Toronto at the time, would consider it a big trip to drive the north country to visit the vast, little towns on a Sunday afternoon. It was a simpler time in the 1930s and 1940s when the couple would pack up a frying pan and bacon and eggs and ride their bikes to a local peer where they would set up a for a picnic and cook breakfast over a campfire.

The young couple recalls courting for a while before he asked for her hand in marriage and she accepted. At the time, Jack was a flying instructor with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

They were engaged for two years and, at 18 and 25, the two finally said their vows.

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"The girls were all in white because the colour of the dyes at that time were dreadful," Maisie laughed.

The men were all in full uniform, despite it being 94 degrees on that June day. The early summer wedding was also held during the Second World War and the couple had to provide their own sugar and butter due to the ration program at the time.

The newlyweds spent four days relaxing on their honeymoon at a Haliburton lodge before Jack had to report back to work. Maisie laughed while she told the story of getting an insect bite, which caused her eye to swell severely while on their country holiday. The running joke among the lodge staff was that her new husband didn’t have to be so rough.

While the war had come to an end, there was a chance Jack could be sent to battle in Japan.

"We were just newly married and you try to live in a fairytale and not think about it," Maisie said. "I didn’t want him to go."

With him home by her side, the couple began their family; in the end having one boy and two girls and, further along in life, eight grandchildren and soon-to-be five great-grandchildren.

The Sauls have also shared a number of life adventures, including living in Saudi Arabia for two years before Jack retired from Bell and then travelling the world on a $3,000 ticket before returning home.

"We are very blessed to have one another," Jack said.

When asked what the secret to a long marriage is, both agreed the key is to have faith in God and be willing to work together through any rough patches.

While their activities have turned from hiking and biking to online banking and email, their love remains as it was 70 years ago.

The Sauls will have a small gathering with family and long-time friends later this month to celebrate the milestone.

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