ETERNALLY YOURS

This lifelong romance was meant to be from the very beginning

- Marion Morneault, Barrie, Ont.

Back in the ’50s in small-town Aylmer, Ont., there wasn’t much activity on a Friday night, except maybe going to the movie theatre. One evening after attending a movie with my friends, we headed to the local restaurant for a soda. Seated at the counter was a handsome stranger. We admired him but didn’t attempt to talk to him. On another occasion, while attending a local hockey game, there “he” was again playing for the RCAF hockey team. This established that the mystery man was indeed in the military. Aylmer was home to an RCAF pilot training station during World War II, which remained open after the war for ground training. On yet another occasion, my girlfriend was to meet her friend at the air base and asked me to accompany her. When we met her, guess who was with her? We were introduced and made a date to attend a dance at the Stork Club in nearby Port Stanley. Little did I know that the man sitting in that restaurant would be the man I’d spend the next 63 years of my life with.

John and I dated for a year and fell in love. There was one stumbling block to our future together. John was a devout Catholic and I was Protestant. He was greatly influenced by a very religious family background that did not agree with mixed marriages. John must have had many sleepless nights dealing with this situation, not wanting to disappoint his family—but we were so much in love. He was so relieved when I told him I would become a Catholic and began taking instruction towards that goal.