Age no barrier to happiness for couple
After two weddings and 10 children, 71-year-old Richard Roden thought his days of marriage and fatherhood were behind him.
After two weddings and 10 children, 71-year-old Richard Roden thought his days of marriage and fatherhood were behind him.
But he is now a proud father once again after his 25-year-old wife gave birth to twins Ruby and Emily.
The couple have been together for four years, after meeting on a maths and English course at Brownhills Library.
But the road to happiness has not been easy - with them having to endure comments such as "cradle snatcher" being shouted at them in the street by people outraged at the age difference.
Mr Roden's eldest daughters, the oldest of which is 52, were initially horrified at the thought of their father seeing a woman half their age.
He told the Express & Star today: "They didn't like it at first, me being with Lisa. But now everyone is fine about it because they can we see we're serious about each other."
When Lisa met her future husband, a former welder at Wagon Automotive in Brownhills, it was his kind face and friendly nature that caught her eye.
"The age gap never bothered me, we just got on really well," she said.
It was on a weekend away in Weston-Super-Mare, in July 2006 with Lisa's daughter Bethany, now eight, that the couple decided to cement their relationship.
Lisa said her family were shocked when she and Richard became a couple and said that the relationship wouldn't last.
"You can't help who you fall in love with - and Richard and I fell in love," she said.
"My family told me that it wouldn't last, but four years later we are still together, so we have proved them all wrong."
The couple started trying for a baby at the beginning of 2007, and in May and December that year, Lisa suffered two miscarriages, one at nine weeks pregnant, and the second at eight weeks pregnant.
She then discovered she was pregnant again in May last year. She said: "We really wanted children, despite Richard's age. I don't miss going out with someone younger. I have been in a violent relationship in the past and Richard is so kind and caring, he really looks after me.
"We were really desperate to have a baby, so when I lost two babies within six months we were devastated. When I fell pregnant for the third time I was terrified that I was going to lose this one too." When Lisa was just a few weeks pregnant, she was doubled up in pain one morning and the doctor thought she had a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy and admitted her to hospital.
But a scan at the Manor Hospital in Walsall revealed the most amazing news. Lisa had fallen pregnant with identical twins.
She said: "I was so shocked when the nurse told us that she could see two heartbeats on the screen.
"I had thought that I had an ectopic pregnancy, and I'd sent Richard home from the hospital to look after Bethany, so I was on my own when the doctor told me they could see two heartbeats.
"All I could think of was that Richard was 71 - how was he going to cope with two babies. I phoned him up and told him the news and he kept reassuring me that everything would be fine.
He told me he'd had plenty of experience with ten other children. And he has been such a support throughout it all.
"He came with me to every hospital appointment and scan, and he was so proud when he could see the babies moving around on the screen. He was really excited about being a dad again."
The couple married at Cannock Register Office on September 26. And now, they are planning to have more children.
"I'd definitely like another," said Mr Roden. "The twins have completed my life."
