Celebrating 70 years of marriage: Gladys and Al Thorp

Gladys and Al Thorp have been married for 70 years.

Gladys is 92 years old and Al is 93 and every 10 years on their Oct. 2 anniversary they take their wedding garb out of storage.

Gladys slips into her demure lace dress with the million buttons up the back and Al puts on the heavy, top quality wool suit.

Words like regal and elegant come to mind when Gladys raises her head with pride, and one look at Al’s secret smile shows a dapper gentleman standing guard over his beautiful bride.

This lovely couple radiate light from another era and you know they have truly shone through the test of time.

It wasn’t always easy but they’ve had a good life and it is so very apparent they have an everlasting love for one another.

Maybe the secret to 70 years of marriage is just that simple: enduring love.

At the end of the photo shoot, Al reached into his pocket.

“I had a cold when we were getting married so I had peppermint candies in my pocket – I have one left,” Al said, holding the 70-year-old candy in his hand for a moment and then dropping it right back into the same pocket. Al also had on his original tie and tie clip.

“I’m going to go get changed and my dress will go right back into its original box,” Gladys said.

Their 70-year journey together started one fateful day as Al’s band, Hub City 4, was playing at a wedding in the early 50s and Gladys was the bridesmaid.

“There was another fellow making time with Gladys but I decided to make a play for her,” Al said, who was the band’s drummer.

“Then Al came to the Bluebird Café where I worked and he always asked for a milkshake with an extra scoop of ice cream,” Gladys said.

“It was vanilla,” Al recalled with a smile.

During their three-year courtship Gladys continued to work at the Blue Bird Café, located next door to WD West studio, near Northern Hardware on Third Avenue.

The couple was married at Knox United Church on Oct. 2, 1954.

 Gladys and Al have four children including Candace, Darold, Gordon and Melvin and eventually came the grands and greats, Gladys said.

Gladys and Allan lived at 690 Carney Street for 30 years.

“Then we moved 'south',” Gladys said, which means they moved further down the street and have lived in their current home for the last 40 years.

During their married life, Al worked at Doc’s Radio Clinic, Rose’s Ice Cream Shop, the Prince George Bakery and Canadian Propane, then moved on to Westcoast Transmission in 1957 that changed to West Coast Energy, Spectra Energy and eventually Enbridge where Al spent 37 years growing his family and career. He retired from his southern district manager position where he was responsible for 14 compressor stations, six pipeline crews, about 150 people and 2,000 km of pipeline that went from Chetwynd to the U.S. border.

Gladys worked at Hughes and Rutledge ladies wear, was a swim instructor with the school district and a phone operator for Northwest Telephone Company. Gladys was an extraordinary volunteer as president of the local branch of the Canadian Cancer Society, on the board for the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada and was known for her gingerbread houses donated to local charities to be raffled off during fundraisers. Gladys also volunteered with the Terry Fox Run.

When their children were school-age, Gladys has such fond memories of whisking the children away to their Summit Lake cabin for the whole summer.

“It’s my favourite spot in the whole wide world,” Gladys said. “I loved it out there. The nature, the seclusion – I liked the seclusion. We were all by ourselves. There were six cabins past us and nobody would come out – maybe only once a month. There was no road so we took the boat and we were isolated. So I had the four kids and the bears, squirrels and the grouse and lots of huckleberries. It was a good life for the kids.”

In her retirement Gladys took up painting scenery and historic buildings in water colour, acrylics and oil.

When Al retired in 1994 he joined the Old Time Fiddlers and the Forever Young Chorus, the drama club and was a member of the Country Cuzzins at the Elder Citizens Recreation Centre.

And the secret to 70 years of happy marriage?

“You got to live a long time,” Al deadpanned.

“You give and you take,” Gladys said. “I took my wedding vows very seriously.”

“And I learned you have to say you’re sorry,” Al said.

“I wasn’t always very good at that,” Gladys said, her eyes sweeping to her beloved groom.

“When I was mad, I was mad,” Gladys said.

“But you gotta mean it when you say you’re sorry,” Al nodded.

Always the musician, Al’s button accordion found its way into his hands and he played.

His song choice was most appropriate.

As Al looked into the eyes of the woman he has spent 70 years with he began the sweetest song - Que Sera, Sera – Whatever will be, will be, The future’s not ours to see, Que Sera, Sera.