Happy Valentines still in love after 65 years
VALENTINE’S Day will be extra special for one Whitworth couple.
Tony and Irene Dempsey will be celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary - blue sapphire - on February 14.
The pair, who met in 1948 whilst both working at Dublin Company cotton mill on North Street, are now just five years away from their Platinum anniversary.
Tony and Irene are parents to three children and have six grandchildren and three greatgrandchildren.
Married at St Anselm’s RC Church on John Street in 1953, they have maintained a strong relationship and they said that time has “passed so quickly.”
Tony, 87, who worked at Fred Smith’s Engineering Company on Market Street for 18 years as an engineering store keeper, said that the key to a happy marriage weighs on “the luck of the draw” and finding the “right one.”
Whereas Irene, 86, who spent the majority of her working life in the at cotton mill where the lovebirds met, believes that the foundations of a strong relationship are based on a basis of “giving and taking.”
They also agreed that they wouldn’t change a single thing if they had to do it all again.
The couple, who now live in Tong Lane Flats, first got together at a dance in at the Whitworth Conservative Club.
Tony was then sent to do his National Service during from 1948 to 1950 and, during this period, they were corresponding with the occasional meet up.
Their family said that they are “immensely proud to call them their parents.”
They added a personal message for the happy couple: “Thank you mum and dad for always being there for each and everyone of us, your love