“He always said he fancied me”, Ruth Anderson, 90, said about husband Bill, 92.
The Dundee couple, who are celebrating their platinum wedding anniversary, have known each other since Ruth was just 14-years-old.
The pair first met in the city in the 1940s, after Ruth’s brother brought Bill home from school one day.
“Bill always came around to the house, as he went about with my brother, as they were in the same year at school”, she recalled.
“He always said he fancied me, but nothing happened until Hogmanay six years later.”
Meeting at Hogmanay
While Bill was on leave from the British Army, the pair ended up at the same party in the Locarno halls. They shared a few dances together, ringing in the bells.
“Me and my pals were then going to go first footing”, Ruth said, “when Bill asked me to go around with him.”
“I went to my friends and said to them ‘Bill’s asked me to go with him'”, Ruth said with a smirk.
“They were all like ‘We’ll off you go then!’ And pushed us out together.”
The couple ended up back at Ruth’s mums house, where they ran into her brother.
“I remember Bill said to him ‘I’ve asked her to go with me’. He said ‘Well that’s all right, but you better look after her or you’ll have me to contend with.”
Bill was sent back to Germany, where he was stationed, but continued to write to Ruth every week.
She said: “He was wanting me to go over there and stay in Germany but I didn’t want to go. I was frightened to leave my mum.
“So he said well what are you wanting to do? I said well you go and then you can still come home and after we’ll see, but I don’t think I want to go over to Germany.”
Getting married
However, Bill knew that he didn’t want to lose Ruth just weeks after finally getting to be with her.
He said: “I was a Corporal and was going to get made up to Sergeant and sign on for a couple more years, but she wouldn’t do it. So I got demobbed and came out and came back home.”
Once home, Bill asked Ruth to marry him and she quickly agreed.
The couple were married on August 18, 1951, at Bill’s parents house.
“I had wanted it to be in the church”, Ruth explained.
“But we had friends coming from Bridge of Allan and they wouldn’t make it in the morning.
“So his dad decided what about having it in the house, that way we could have it in the afternoon.
“So we had to see the minister who said yes I’ll come to the house to marry you.
“My mother-in-law emptied all the living room and we got caterers in and we got married there and then we went for our honeymoon in Arbroath.”
The couple made a start on their own family, which often left others surprised due to how young they looked.
Bill recalled one incident when they first moved in to their own house.
“I remember a woman came to the door one day and Ruth answered and she asked ‘Is your mum home?’ And she said I am the mum!”
Celebrating with family
The couple are looking forward to celebrating their 70-year marriage surrounded by family this weekend.
And with two sons, two daughters, nine grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, it’s sure to be a big party.
Bill said: “It doesn’t feel like 70 years. Even though we were so young, it’s not felt like 70-years.”
Ruth said the key to a successful marriage is to never stay angry.
She said: “I know in normal married life you have arguments, but don’t stay in the huff.
“We bicker but then I’ll go away into the kitchen and eventually I’ll pop my head back round and say do you want a cup of tea and he says oh that’s you talking to me again.
“It also helps to know that the woman is in charge.”