Love the key to 75 years of marital bliss
The key to a 75-year marriage is simple: It’s love.
Alton (Al) and Dorothy (Dot) Downer are celebrating 75 years of love Tuesday.
They were married in the city on Sept. 26, 1942.
On Saturday, their family gathered at a local country club to mark the anniversary, showering them with 75 red and white roses.
A few days later, their dining room table was filled with cards, flowers and chocolates, all surrounding a photo of the Downers on their wedding day.
Al, 97, and Dot, 94, are still on their own, living in a bright and cheery north-end home adorned with family photos.
They had two children, have five grandkids and 10 great grandkids. The couple met in 1940. Dot moved to Peterborough when she was 16 from the Burleigh Falls area.
She met Al a year later, while working at Westclox on the assembly line.
Al was living in Toronto at the time working at a garage. He grew up in the county.
The pair met at a Legion dance, dating for two years before they got married.
They wed at Mark Street United Church, followed by a small reception at Dot’s parent’s house on McDonnel Street.
Before they married, Al enlisted in the air force and was stationed at the fire department in Brantford. The couple rented an apartment there and Dot worked in a factory.
Al was later transferred to Yarmouth, N.S. and Dot eventually followed.
Next, they moved to St. John, N.B. That’s where they had their son Ron.
Al was later posted to Newfoundland, but Dot didn’t go. She went back to Peterborough with Ron.
When the war was over, Al returned to Peterborough and the couple bought a wartime house north of Lansdowne Street.
A year or so later, they had their daughter Sheala. (Sheala died five years ago).
Al went on to work in the machine shop at Outboard Marine and Dot worked at Sears.
In 1965, the couple decided to take a break from winter and go south, travelling to Florida for two weeks.
“We liked it so well that we planned that nearly every year we went somewhere in February,” Dot said.
Over the years, they travelled to England, Europe, across Canada and America and took cruises to Alaska, the Caribbean and along the Panama Canal.
When their kids were little, the couple built a cottage on Chemong Lake, tearing it down years later to build a home. The Downers lived there from 1986 to 2007.
They moved into their home in the north end 10 years ago and still live there today.
Dot said there are a few factors that helped the couple last three quarters of a century. “Love, for one thing,” she said. It also helps to be able to talk things out and share similar interests, she added.
The Downers were avid golfers, curlers and shuffleboard players in their day.
Dot’s advice to married couples today is to talk things out.
“If you have a disagreement, talk about it, don’t let it bottle up ... you should talk about it and get it solved and don’t just pick up and say I’m leaving. And then be happy ever after.”