Tolerance is the secret of 70 happy years (From Witney Gazette)

Tolerance is the secret of 70 happy years

9:00am Wednesday 15th November 2006 in Witney By Rosalind Miles

A COUPLE who were forced to endure seven years of separation during the Second World War have celebrated 70 years of marriage.

Betty and Bob Goldsworthyok, aged 90 and 93, of Carterton celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary.

The pair met when they were at school in their home town of Bournemouth. They wed when she was 20, and he was 23.

Several years later, Mr Goldsworthy joined the Territorial Army, and his work testing radar caused him to be transferred around the country. His wife, who had given birth to their two young children Anthony and Mary, could not continue to follow him, and so they were separated for some seven years.

She said: "We met as people in small towns do. We went swimming, we cycled a lot, because then it was the only form of transport - if we saw a car it was a novelty.

"The war started, my parents died and he was called up. It was not a time of any joy.

"I think tolerance comes first, and a sense of humour, and a sense of the ridiculous."

Betty Goldsworthy

"Bob was in the army for the next seven years. It was a very long, stretched-out time. I, like most women, cut up my wedding dress to make undies.

"It was seven years of deprivation, it was strenuous, but we were in pretty good spirits. People got on with it with good grace. We never thought Germany would overwhelm us.

"Our separation was very difficult, and many had that same experience. When it was over, it took some getting used to live as a family again."

Mr Goldsworthy was a Lance Corporal in the Dorchester Fortress Royal Engineers.

After leaving the army, the couple moved to Reading, and became house parents at an American women's college. They moved to Carterton when they retired.

They have three grandchildren and one great-grandchild in Australia, and two grandchildren and one great-grandchild living in America.

When asked the secret to their long and happy marriage, Mrs Goldsworthy said: "I think tolerance comes first, and a sense of humour, and a sense of the ridiculous.

"A liking for people and an outward look, and to not let the small things worry you."

Mr Goldsworthy said: "It's tolerance, and doing a lot of sport."

He enjoys oil painting and making and repairing things. His latest project was making a Regency doll's house, which took two years to build.

She likes theatre, jewellery-making, sewing, and reading. On the day of their anniversary, the mayor of Carterton, Phil Scott, visited the couple and presented them with a bouquet of flowers.