If you are looking for tips on how to get a happy marriage, you can learn a thing or two from John and Bertha Wingenbach.
The Edmonton couple, “both 96 and older,” according to John, have just celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary.
They were married on June 3, 1947, almost five years before Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne.
“Our marriage was so natural … we went from single to married in such a natural way that it felt like it had to be,” John said in an interview. “There was never any doubt.”
Her secrets to a successful marriage come down to three things, she said.
“The first one is very simple … choose the right partner,” John said. “Everything else will go in its place.”
The second thing, he said, is to commit.
The third thing is to allow your partner to be her own person, “don’t try to change her into something else,” John said.
John and Bertha on their wedding day, June 3, 1947. “She was beautiful,” John wrote about his girlfriend. (Submitted by Rodney Al)
John and Bertha grew up on farms in Saskatchewan and met before reuniting in Calgary when they were 20 years old. Bertha worked in a hospital and John was a telegraph operator for the Canadian Pacific Railway.
“We became friends quickly and that soon became something more,” John wrote.
For John, the city was a scary place.
“When you’re away like that, you meet someone at home. It’s a big deal,” he told CBC.
“So we became friends and it became something else. And a year later, we got married.”
John said similarities in their cultural and religious backgrounds also played an important role in bringing them together.
“We were members of the Catholic Church, which we have maintained,” Bertha said.
“I respect him. He has the same for me.”
Before CBC interviewed John and Bertha, John sat down in front of a computer and wrote nine clear paragraphs of memories of his life together.
“To this day,” John wrote, “I still consider marrying Bertha to be my greatest achievement.”
Eleven guests attended her little wedding at a Calgary church. “Bertha wore a long white dress and a long veil,” John wrote. “She looked beautiful.”
The church was followed by a meal in the restaurant and “croquet on the front lawn of Bertha’s owner’s house.” At 5 p.m., the bride and groom boarded a Greyhound bus to Banff, where they enjoyed “five glorious days … using bicycles as transportation.”
We separated very seldom.- John Wingenbach
They first settled in Calgary. After a few stops in smaller communities in Alberta and Saskatchewan, they landed in Edmonton in 1952. John’s telegraphy career came to an end. He went into accounting and they bought his first house.
Their married life has been spent mostly together. “We were rarely separated,” John said.
They enjoyed long walks: “I think maybe that helped our health a lot,” he said, and they were happy to be home, except for a road trip to Canada or the United States. John took Bertha with him on business trips.
Bertha and John remembering with pictures the day of their wedding. (Liam Harrap / CBC)
The marriage of the Wingenbachs has been an inspiration to their three children and four grandchildren, who considered them a unique unit.
“When I ask my grandfather or grandmother a question, they know each other a lot,” said grandson Rodney Al.
“And so the answers I get when they speak on behalf of both of them, each of them can speak for both of them with a lot of confidence.”
After a lifetime together, the Wingenbachs consider it a blessing to still have each other.
“It’s probably the biggest blessing we have,” John said.
After their first 27 years in Edmonton, the couple moved to Lloydminster and then to Medicine Hat before returning to Edmonton about four years ago.
The couple lives in Rosedale Seniors’ Living in Edmonton. They planned to celebrate his birthday with his family at home.
Bertha and John were photographed together in an undated photo. (Submitted by Rodney Al)