Happy couple say respect is key
A couple celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary have spoken about how they met and how they’ve lasted.
Norman and Joyce Caron celebrated their milestone anniversary with a quiet day at their home in Cannock with their son Andrew and a card from the Queen.
The couple first met in the Wagon and Horses pub in Birmingham in 1953. Joyce was sitting in the pub with her mother when Norman and his friends walked in.
She said: “I was sitting there when he walked in and he said to his friends when he saw me that he was going to take me out.
"As it was, he walked me to the bus for me to go home to Kingstanding and it went from there, as he asked me out and after I asked if he would turn up, he gave his handkerchief as a promise.
“We laugh about it now as we know it would never happen in this day and age, but it was a more innocent time.”
The couple were married on December 31, 1955, at Holy Trinity Church in Aston in Birmingham before settling into their home in Alcock Street in Deritend.
Joyce, now 86, worked for a range of electrical companies over the years, while 89-year-old Norman worked as a long-distance lorry driver.
They eventually moved to Cannock after their house was due to be demolished and settled in Staffordshire, having two children, although the oldest, Philip, tragically died at the age of 12 due to leukaemia.
In retirement, the couple have enjoyed their leisure activities at home, with Joyce enjoying arts and crafts, including painting eggs, and Norman still gardening and doing DIY jobs around the house.
Joyce said their marriage had lasted as long as it had, and given them two grandchildren and one great-grandchild, because they had never stopped caring for each other and respected each other.
