On June 9, 1955, Louis St. Laurent was the prime minister of Canada, the iconic Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and the Comets was still a month away from topping the Billboard Top 100 charts, and Don and Joyceanne Reynolds of Sault Ste. Marie made a marriage vow that has stood for 70 years as the world changed around them.
Joyceanne was 18 years old and Don was 21 when they made their vows in a Sault Ste. Marie church in an intimate ceremony. Seventy years later, the couple has four children, 10 grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.
What's the secret to a seven decade long marriage? Both Don and Joyceanne agree, it's keeping busy and a lot of hard work.
"Nowadays, I think the young people either don't pick the right person in the first place and when things get difficult they run away from it instead of dealing with it — and a lot of people don't know how to say, 'forgive me,'" said Joyceanne.
Don was born in Sault Ste. Marie, while Joyceanne's family moved to the Sault from Hagersville, Ont. in her early teens. Coincidentally, her maiden name was also Reynolds.
"She married me because she liked the name, not me," Don joked.
Years later, Joyceanne's brother did an extensive genealogy report on her side of the family, finding no link between the Reynolds lines in the Sault and Hagersville.
Don began his 42-year career at Algoma Steel in 1948 when he took on the position of door boy. He noted that the age requirement for the position was 16, but he was just 15 at the time.
Asked what that job entailed, Don said: "All you do is pull a lever, the furnace door opens, they take the ingot out."
"When I was 17, they put me in the labour gang because they thought I was 18. When you're the youngest guy in the labour gang, you get the dirtiest jobs. The ones who are already there — they know. So, I'm down underneath the mill where all the grease and the scale is," said Don.
"He was really skinny," said Joyceanne about the reason her husband was suited to those jobs.
It didn't take long for Don to decide the dirty work wasn't for him.
"I was wearing a raincoat and hip boots and I see this guy up in the crane, he isn't getting dirty like I am," he said. "So I go to the foreman and I said: 'I want to be a crane operator.' They trained me and I became a crane operator. So when I met her, that's what I was doing."
At the time, Joyceanne was working as a car hop at the Lone Pine drive-in restaurant.
"I could not have married a woman more suited for me — I couldn't have," Don said. "She was perfect for me."
When asked what a date night would look like for them in the 1950s, the couple said it would mostly be visiting with friends and family.
"There were house parties or a lot visiting with old relatives, because they like company and they would tell you their stories," said Joyceanne. "We would go to the odd show downtown and sometimes the drive-in when it opened up."
After five years as a crane operator, Don trained his sights on becoming a supervisor, but his lack of education almost got in the way. Although he didn't have formal education past Grade 9, he was confident in his math skills, which were required for the job.
"They tested me and said: 'You know your math' and they hired me into product control," he said.
Don's retirement from the plant in 1991 lasted about one month before he began driving for a shuttle service, mostly between the airport and a downtown hotel. For 22 years, he drove that shuttle and met a lot of interesting people, including actress Kelly Riley and former Toronto Maple Leafs player Tie Domi.
As far as their kids are concerned, the couple says they have been lucky.
"We've been so fortunate with with all our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. None of them got in any trouble whatsoever — that we know of," said Joyceanne.
Much like their dates in the 1950s, Don and Joyceanne's anniversary plans were low-key, with a celebration dinner at home with family.