Inseparable... Couple mark 75 years of wedded bliss
A DEVOTED couple celebrated 75 years together yesterday having met by chance at a dance.
Sam and Joan Price marked the milestone, known as a second diamond anniversary, with a family picnic in their garden.
The relationship had begun at a dance in Oldham in June, 1940.
Sam, then 18, had found himself face to face with the beautiful Joan, 16, when the music stopped.And the rest, he said, is history.
He told the Daily Express: “It was love at first sight.We were quite inseparable after that.”
The couple, both lifelong Express readers, married in the
Lancashire town in July 1945 and held their reception at a cafe.
They went on to have two sons, Mark, 74, and Peter, 71, and a daughter, Jean, who was tragically killed in a motorbike accident in 1999.
Busy
After moving to Liverpool they eventually settled in Harpenden, Herts, and still live in the bungalow they bought 52 years ago.
They now have six grandchildren and 10 greatgrandchildren.
Couple on their big day in 1945 Sam, 98, was a production engineer at General Motors Ltd UK. He was later made director of manufacturing.
Joan, 97, kept busy with family life and volunteer work at Oxfam.
Asked about the secret of their long marriage, Sam said: “We just kept going.
“We were both very busy.We always had something to talk about, and we always looked to the future.
“I had a very big job and she was really supportive. She always had the ability to small talk... which took the pressure off me!”
He added: “75 years is quite an achievement.”