Bernard and Theresa make it to 60

On April 29, Bernard and Theresa John-Baptiste celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary with a service at Our Lady of Lourdes RC Church, Maraval, followed by a reception at the society hall in Maraval. The small gathering included relatives and close friends.

Sitting beside his wife in the living room of their Morne Coco Road home in Maraval, Bernard blushed as he recalled the days when he casually sung to his wife. "Moonlight Becomes You" was his wooing song.

He recalled: "I wrote her (via post) asking if I could visit her and she wrote back and said that I would have to write and ask her aunt."

Theresa, 82, lived with her aunt, uncle and cousins from an early age and admitted that when she first met Bernard, she did find him to be a nice person.

"Within a week or two I met her aunt. They didn’t object and I visited her house," Bernard said.

Not before a year had passed, Bernard proposed marriage. But first, he had to ask her aunt’s permission and when Theresa’s aunt gave her blessing, Theresa said "yes!"

Seven children, many grandchildren and several great grandchildren later, Bernard said: "We are proud to live to see four generations, not many people live to see that. I thank the fella upstairs for many years. I thank God for the strength of life to be with each other."

Theresa agreed. "Life is good. We never had any quarrels, maybe a little something now and then. We tried to please each other in all ways. There was no hiding anything from anyone. It is no different now than it was from the beginning."

Bernard and Theresa are the parents of Clarence, Carol (Jacqueline), Clarissa (Victoria), Carlyle, Catherine (Patricia), Charles and Christine (Stephanie). The oldest child, Clarence, is 59.

As regards disagreements Bernard revealed: "At least if she brought anything up, I would keep my mouth shut. It’s the answer that brings the row."

Bernard, president of the Maraval Catholic Friendly Society since 1956, pursued tailoring as his profession even before meeting Theresa. And today, he still finds time to get behind his faithful sewing machine to whip up men’s suits. Theresa was a homemaker and hand-stitch helper alongside Bernard. "I would do the hemming, buttonholes, put on the buttons and only recently my daughter bought me a surger."

They were both members of the church choir and though Bernard’s singing voice is a little rusty now, he still manages to carry a note of "Moonlight Becomes You." His health is not at its best as he suffers from diabetes and nurses a knee injury sustained decades ago after being thrown off his bicycle by a vehicle. Theresa, on the other hand, has heart trouble and requires a pacemaker.

They enjoy caring for each other despite ill health. "Every day I am looking forward to seeing another one (day). I feel we could live to another ten years," he smiled.

His wife chimed in. She believed the key to her successful family life was "agreeing with one another. You know what I like and I know what you like and you try to do things to please one another. And if you’re going somewhere and you forget to tell your mate, you call and say so and so is the case."

As for Bernard, he transferred the principles of his job to his marriage life. "If I told a customer he would have his suit by a particular date, I would ensure I finish the suit a week before so that I would always be on time. And with marriage, I made promises and I kept them."