Love at first sight

Corner Brook couple knew they were meant for each other

CORNER BROOK - Ches and Ruby Burt don’t consider themselves to be special, but theirs is a story of love at first sight that is just as strong today as it was nearly 70 years ago.

Sitting side by side in chairs in their room at Mountain View Retirement Centre in Corner Brook on Wednesday, the day before Valentine’s Day, the pair shared the story of how they met.

Ches, 87, is originally from Grand Bank, and Ruby, just six months older at 88, was born and raised in Corner Brook. She was a Winsor who grew up on Gillett’s Lane.

In 1949, Ches was driving a jitney (bus) in the city.

Ruby lived in the Humber Road area and worked on Broadway. Quite often she’d get a bus to go to work and would see Ches around.

For some reason, though, she never got in his bus.

“I have stopped on the bus stop for quite a few minutes waiting for his bus. And, of course, he never came until I got in another one,” she said.

She recalls one night on Broadway when she “waited, and waited and waited” for him.

“I let bus after bus go,” she said.

Nearly froze to death, she had no choice but to get in another bus, only to then see Ches turning around and come right up from behind.

“And that happened more than once.”

Ruby said she doesn’t know what it was about that young man driving the bus that caught her eye.

“I couldn’t tell you what it was. Because I had never spoken Ches and Ruby Burt will celebrate their 67th anniversary in March. The Corner Brook couple are just as much in love today as they were when they first met.

DIANE CROCKER/THE WESTERN STAR

she said with a little laugh.

“He was very shy.”

And she said she could have married him that night.

Ches and Ruby started dating in 1950 and were married in 1952. They will celebrate their 67th anniversary on March 12.

It wasn’t until after they married that they told each other about how they had wanted to meet.

Life for the couple has been lots of fun, they say. They raised three children — Gary Burt, who lives in Ontario, Pamela Williams of Deer lake and Marlene Simms of Pasadena — and have nine grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

“The guitar and the car was two most important things. Sing-alongs and drives,” said Ruby.

And their house was always full of their children and their friends.

That doesn’t mean there hasn’t been a row or two.

“But we’ve never gone to bed not speaking and we’ve never left home without speaking,” said Ruby.

She recalls one night when the two had an argument while on the way home in the car.

Ches had to go to work at Bowaters that night and when they got to their home he stopped the car, let Ruby out and went on to work.

“Well I almost had a heart attack. He was still mad,” she said.

She went inside crying and went to bed. The phone rang and she picked it up.

“Nobody said hello, but I heard, ‘Stop crying and go to sleep.’”

He put her first then, just as he has for all the years since.

The Western Star