A local couple who recently celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary took a little time to reflect on seven decades of adventures — and counting.
Audrey and Allen Lutomsky marked the milestone of their 70th anniversary on Jan. 15 and took a trip down memory lane to recall some of their momentous experiences together.
Now nearly 89, Audrey remembers back to being a 17-year-old girl when she met her future husband for the first time.
Her family lived in a small Saskatchewan town called Wynyard, while Al was from a nearby town called Jansen that was just up the road.
At the time, young Al, who is now 91, worked in his uncle’s butcher shop. The family business also rented out freezer storage units to local families.
“We didn’t have freezers at home out at the farm in those days, so you could put your meat in there. My mom always used to put containers of fruit in there that she’d freeze with a little bit of sugar,” Audrey recalled.
“I went with my mom one day and Al happened to be there. He asked his uncle ‘Who is that girl?’ His uncle told him who I was, and Al said, ‘I’m going to marry her one day.’”
And that’s exactly what happened.
“We went together for a while and then we got engaged a year before we were married. Then he decided that he had to look for a further career, so he joined the Air Force in the spring of 1954. He went to basic training first in Quebec and then in Ontario for a few months. At Christmastime he came home and got stationed to Moose Jaw, Sask.,” she said.
“When he came to see me again, we were engaged at that time. We decided in December that we were going to get married on Jan. 15, 1955. It was the middle of winter in Saskatchewan, colder than a son of a gun.”
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Audrey and Allen have visited 46 countries over the decades including Paris, France, left photo, and riding rickshaw in Beijing, China
For the next five years, the newlyweds lived together in Moose Jaw where they welcomed their first child, Sheri Lee. Six weeks after the baby girl was born, the growing family was transferred to Germany. They remained in Germany for three years and celebrated the birth of their second child, Terry Dean.
After that, they spent six months in France before being transferred back to Canada. They settled in the New Brunswick community known at that time as Chatham and now referred to as Miramichi.
“Being in the Armed Forces, one moves an awful lot. So from Chatham, we got transferred to Gimli. When they shut the base down in Gimli, we got transferred to Winnipeg,” Audrey said.
“Then Al decided to get out of the service in 1979, and I had a job with the federal government that took us back to Gimli.”
They weren’t in Gimli for long when Audrey got a job transfer to Penticton, B.C. She continued to work with the federal government for a couple more years before they retired to Osoyoos, B.C. After that, Audrey and Al moved to Alberta, followed by Brandon and eventually to Stonewall, where their daughter lives. They’ve remained in Stonewall for the past 13 years.
Meanwhile, their son Terry spent a few years in Penticton with them until he got a job offer that took him back to Winnipeg.
About a year and a half ago, Audrey and Al sold their Stonewall home and moved into the Lions Manor. They enjoy playing cards with the local 55 Plus group, which added a festive flair to their anniversary celebrations complete a delicious cake for the couple.
Looking back, Audrey and Al enjoyed a lifetime of memories in many communities across Canada — and in dozens of countries around the world.
“We’ve travelled a ton in our married life — and once our retirement came, we really started to travel. We’ve been to 46 different countries. It gives you an opportunity to see a different slant on life, to see how other people live,” said Audrey, a self-proclaimed nomad.
“One of the nicest places that we have been was to Ireland. Ireland and New Zealand are very similar. We’ve been to Russia and China and South America and all the countries in Europe. We were vagabonds for a while. Al said he married a gypsy.”
She recalled strolling with Al through Tiananmen Square in China. When locals spotted the Canadian flags on their jackets, they came over to shake their hands.
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“They were so polite,” Audrey said. “It didn’t matter which country we went to, they were just like that.”
And as they reflect on their seven decades of marriage, Audrey shared some wisdom she’s gleaned over the years.
“I think marriage encompasses a lot of different things. No. 1 is respect, commitment, learning how to listen, learning how to forgive, responsibilities, having a positive outlook, learning to compromise — all those things. And you also need to acknowledge a lot of those things in other people,” she said.
“No marriage is perfect. There’s always ups and downs and give and take. Certainly, there’s always attraction, but there’s much more to a marriage than that. It’s learning to work with your partner during stressful times. But more than anything else, it’s your commitment and respect for each other.”
At the same time, Al expressed gratitude for their lives together — as well as for the eras that they’ve enjoyed together.
“It’s been a very interesting life and we’re very appreciative for being able to have lived during the era that we lived in. We’re fortunate that we lived during this particular time of Canada, and we went overseas at the time after the war when things were being rebuilt,” he said.
“It was a good era that we lived in. We have lived a wonderful life.”
