A Squamish husband and wife who have just celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary revealed the secrets to a long and happy marriage.
According to Ted and May Arsenault, it’s all about being easy-going, patient and respectful. “Neither one of us is hard to get along with,” Ted, 96, said in an interview in their Garibaldi Highlands home.
They met during the Second World War in Glasgow, Scotland, when Ted (who is from Big River, Saskatchewan) was stationed overseas as an infantry gunner with the Canadian army.
May, 92, said, “I was a conductress with the Glasgow Corporation Tram Cars. That was my wartime job. As I was going to pick up my [tram]car… this young man came down to me and said, ‘Will you please tell me how I can get to Barrhead?’ That’s where my car was going. I said, ‘Well if you just follow me, I’ll tell you where to get off.’”
That young man was Ted and he was in uniform, heading to visit a friend about to leave for Sicily with the infantry. It was a long journey, said May, so they chatted as they travelled. “I had on a little cross around my neck and he asked me if I was Roman Catholic, and I said yes. He asked me lots of questions during that trip and I think from then on, he wanted to marry me.”
“Oh, you tell stories on me!” joked Ted, but added there were definitely signs it was meant to be.
It was a different kind of courtship back then, they explained, saying that they spent a lot of time walking in the park, looking over family photos, getting to know one another.
The proposal, though, was rather romantic, explained May. “During one of his leaves, we went to Loch Lomond for the day and we had such a beautiful time tramping up the hills. We were having a rest, sitting down, and Ted said to me, ‘How about you and I get married?’ I said, ‘When?’ He said, ‘Next leave.’”
But getting leave from the army was difficult, so they weren’t able to marry for another two years. And even then, they postponed their wedding because Ted was unexpectedly sent back into wartime action.
Finally though, on March 24, 1945, they married in Paisley, Scotland, just outside of Glasgow.
Shortly after the war ended, Ted was stationed back to Canada, but it was another year before May was able to follow him across the Atlantic. Saying goodbye so soon wasn’t easy, she said.
After four days at sea, she docked at Halifax and caught the train to Saskatoon. From there, they went to Prince Albert and on to Big River, where she met Ted’s family for the first time.
“It was very rural but I liked it,” despite the harsh winters and her fingers sticking to the clothesline while hanging out the washing, she said. “It felt so far away. What an adventure!”
After the army, Ted worked as a conservation officer for the government of Saskatchewan for 42 years and often took his family with him when travelling for work. He recalls memories of huddling together in remote log cabins, taking Bombardier snowmobiles out on ice one foot thick, picking wild strawberries, and being chased in their jeep by a moose during rutting season. It was all with their children in tow. It was a wonderful life, said May, who was skilled at canning, cooking and baking.
May and Ted had three children, three grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren – and now a third on the way.
Both Ted and May were once keen curlers and walkers, and they still remain active and independent. Ted has a burgeoning vegetable garden and makes his own award-winning fruit wine, while May regularly goes out for lunch with the over-80s ladies group.
“They’re really quite amazing,” their daughter Eileen said of her parents.
Family has always been a very strong value, explained Eileen. They’ve always celebrated her parents’ anniversary and this year was no different; they had a fish and chip lunch, followed by tea and cake back at her parents’ house.
Ted and May marked their 70th anniversary in March.
