70 years of marriage: “you’ve got to stick it out”

Craig Bakay | May 20, 2020

Don and Doris Richie tied the knot on May 19, 1950.

On May 19, 2020, South Frontenac Mayor Ron Vandewal made a house call to their Bellrock home to personally deliver congratulations and a certificate from the township to commemorate their 70th wedding anniversary.

“I was 16,” said Doris. “Both of my older sisters also got married at 16.

“I come from a family of nine.”

“I was 22,” said Don. “My dad joked that I ‘might better marry the devil I knew.’”

They were married at the United Church in Harrowsmith.

“I was born here in Bellrock and I’ve lived here ever since,” said Doris.

In all that time, they’ve lived a farm life. Don’s already cut hay this season.

“We’ve always lived on a farm,” Doris said. “I used to load bales of hay but when a grandchild came along, I became a babysitter.”

She still bakes “four pies every Saturday” and “a lot of butter tarts.”

Don still works the farm, although their son does much of it these days.

“We’ve always been active,” Doris said. “We joined the Bellrock Community Association in 1950 and Don says he’d get crippled if he didn’t get out.”

Don’s had knee and hip replacements and he still drives.

“I still have to drive into Kingston for my hearing aid,” he said. “About the only place I don’t like to drive is the 401.

“They’re crazy out there.”

“I don’t drive any more,” Doris said. “I have some problems with my eyes.”

But Doris doesn’t worry about Don when he’s out.

“He should have died when he was 80,” she said. “He was up in the hay mow with the hook reaching for a bale of hay and he fell.

“He went right through the floor and ended up on the stable floor.”

“I only dislocated my shoulder,” he said. “The doctor popped it right back in and I was back at it.”

The couple doesn’t have any elaborate plans for their anniversary but expects there’ll be a visit or two from family and friends.

“Our granddaughter was going to cook our supper and bring it over,” Doris said.

So, after a union spanning 70 years, two boys, one girl, seven grandchildren, 10 great grandchildren and two great, great grandchildren, what’s their secret?

“It hasn’t always been a bed of roses,” Doris said. “There have been some ups and downs but we stuck it out.

“A lot of younger people today don’t do that.”