In an inspiring story of true commitment, the Sault’s Sam and Mildred Pringle celebrated their 70th anniversary April 30.
Mildred, born in 1934, met Sam in 1953.
“I belonged to the Orange Order when they had a lodge on King Street. They would have dances and things like that. They had a turkey supper in November of that year. Sam's mother was a member of the lodge and asked me, ‘Are you going to be coming to the dinner?’ She had a reason for asking me that because she wanted me to meet Sam, her son.”
The two met at the supper and the rest is history.
“It turned out to be love at first sight,” Mildred told SooToday.
The couple began dating and were married April 30, 1955.
“We got married never knowing it was going to last 70 years,” Mildred said.
Mildred has not allowed anything to separate her from her husband.
She broke her arm and elbow in February and was sent to Extendicare Van Daele to convalesce.
“I laid there in that bed and I thought, ‘I am not supposed to be in here.’ I had to be with my husband,” Mildred said.
Though she still needs physiotherapy, Mildred’s request to leave Van Daele and go back to be with Sam at their home at Chartwell Collegiate Heights Retirement Residence was granted.
“We can hold hands here. We’re together,” Mildred said.
Mildred worked at a dental office and then at a medical office before the couple’s first child was born.
She decided to be a stay at home mom.
“I thought, ‘No more working.’ I wanted to be a mother at home,” she said.
The couple have four children, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
“My husband was a very busy man, but he always knew when he came home at the end of the day that there would be a meal on the table. And I sewed for my children. I was there for them, for everything. I was there. I feel like I've been a good mother,” Mildred said.
Sam was born in 1932 and lived north of Thessalon before moving to the Sault at the age of 14.
“I was in my first year of high school when my father was working on the original Memorial Gardens and he had a fall. So I went to work on my dad's job, took up his tools, and worked there until the Memorial Gardens was finished. I was always good at working with my hands. I could build anything,” Sam said.
He went on to become a well known contractor and developer, building many subdivisions in the Sault.
He also built an extension on the Group Health Centre as well as the Elgin Tower at the corner of Elgin and Bay, a commercial development on Black Road and condominium developments such as the Parkview Condominium building on MacDonald Avenue.
He continued to build with his own development firm and worked in a supervisory role into his 80s.
“It was just what I did. I don’t brag about it. I'd still be doing it if I could,” Sam said.
What’s the secret to a long, happy marriage?
“You have to be true to each other. I never thought of any woman other than my wife,” Sam said.
“You have to remember your vows. You have to be honest with each other and if you have any problems you can discuss them without having a big do over it. You have to be open with each other and not think of anything other than the happiness that you already have,” Mildred said.
While rooted in marriage, the Pringles have also been loyal to the Sault.
“I love Sault Ste. Marie. We’ve got everything here like a beautiful boardwalk and we have one of the nicer apartments here at Collegiate Heights,” Mildred said.
“It's our home and I never thought of moving out of the Sault to work. The Sault was good to me. The people here couldn't have been better. We worked in Florida, we worked in Elliot Lake quite a bit and different places up north, but the Sault has always been our home,” Sam said.