Syd Laturnus is confident the document that cleared the way for him to marry his love, Bobbie, 70 years ago is a rare one.
He remembers having to navigate the halls of Westminster Abbey in England to receive it – permission to wed the “little and cute” then-18-year-old, as she was considered a minor.
He keeps the precious paper in an envelope, complete with its attached red seal, carefully folded alongside their marriage certificate – which is unique in its own way, due to a slight massaging of Syd’s age to show he was old enough to marry as well.
“If you’re under 21, you’re considered a minor,” Syd explained at the couple’s South Surrey home.
“They wanted me to supply documentation to prove how old I was. I would’ve had to write back to Saskatchewan, get all of that, and I wasn’t over 21. I was 19.
“In order to make this document, they just put me down as 21. There wasn’t any time, as I was leaving.”
Seventy years, four children, 10 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren later – not to mention Syd delivering tea in bed daily and baking bread at least once a week – the story is one that still makes the couple smile.
They met in 1946, while Syd was in England on a training course with the Canadian navy, and Bobbie was with the British Women’s Auxiliary Air Force.
The women’s division was located across the road from where the men were staying, Syd noted, and “there was an unwritten rule – thou shall not cross.”
“So we used to do it at night,” he laughed. “It was fun. I would do it all over again.”
Bobbie remembers liking how Syd was the quiet type, that his dancing “wasn’t too bad,” and how it felt when he put his arm around her shoulder.
The first time he proposed, she didn’t answer. But a couple nights later, when he asked under the moonlight, she responded as she did when he first asked her to dance.
“I said, ‘ya, OK’,” she said.
When they married, on Jan. 18, 1947, they’d known each other just three months.
Bobbie followed Syd to Canada a few months after, arriving on her birthday, on a ship with other war brides.
They lived in Toronto, Vancouver and Burnaby – and returned to England for a year after Bobbie felt homesick – before settling on South Surrey acreage in 1969.
Over the years, Syd worked in electronics, eventually upgrading his education to become a high school shop teacher. He retired in 1985, after more than two decades of teaching; the last dozen or so years at Earl Marriott Secondary.
Along the way, he restored a handful of vintage Austins, and built more than 200 pool tables from scratch.
Bobbie, who worked for Alaska Pine and the unemployment insurance office, also logged more than two dozen years as a volunteer at the Peace Arch Hospital Auxiliary Society’s Superfluity Shop.
“It’s very worthwhile,” she said, of time spent at the shop. “Every penny that was raised went to the hospital.”
They returned to England to celebrate their 50th anniversary at a Queen’s garden party, at Buckingham Palace.
The couple have seen a lot of change in the local community, from the arrival of the quiet area’s first traffic light to its bustling streets today and the trend toward high-rises in the town centre.
But there’s still no better place to call home, Syd said.
In addition to a longstanding tradition of meeting friends for coffee at Semiahmoo Shopping Centre, the couple are regulars at the White Rock legion’s Friday night dances.
Monday, they agreed on the secret to their successful partnership.
“Tolerance. Definitely tolerance,” Bobbie said.
“You have to put up with each other,” echoed Syd.
They also agreed the journey isn’t all roses.
“There are days when I think, never will I ever speak to him again,” Bobbie said.
“…10 minutes later, she’s asking for a cup of tea,” Syd smiled.
“It’s been a good life.”