It's been 70 years of love, devotion

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'We don't always agree, but we always respect the other one's opinion. We don't vote the same, but that's all right.' -- Ed Hudek talks about why his and Christine's marriage has lasted

If you're feeling a touch cynical this Valentine's Day, please consider the story of Ed and Christine Hudek. They've been married for 70 years and swear their devotion is deeper than when their life together began.

The pair smile when they're asked for the secrets of a successful marriage.

"Love," the 92-year-old Christine says simply.

"Love and respect," adds Ed, 95. "We don't always agree, but we always respect the other one's opinion. We don't vote the same, but that's all right."

He pauses.

"Well, I don't think we do. She won't tell me."

The couple, who celebrated their anniversary this past weekend, look at each other fondly across the room. They live in a St. Vital assisted-living apartment filled with the mementos of a rich, full life. Both are in surprisingly robust health. Ed is a little hard of hearing, but his speech is clear and strong. Christine is delicate, a lovely bright-eyed woman who moves with the aid of a walker.

They could be mistaken for a decade or more younger.

The pair met in a Saskatoon church in 1939. She was studying arts at the University of Saskatchewan. He was working on his science and agriculture degree. She intended to be a librarian. Her future husband was planning to farm. They were both strong Catholics who saw each other for the first time at mass.

Ed asked Christine if she'd attend a college dinner with him. They went together for three years before they were engaged. Each wanted to graduate from university first.

"She told me I had to ask her dad. He said yes, but told me I had to look after her."

It would be a small wedding in 1942. Christine's father died two weeks before the service, so she walked herself down the aisle, clad in a pale pink dress she'd worn to graduate from university. There were 30 guests.

Asked if she was nervous, she shakes her head.

"He was waiting at the other end."

The couple moved onto Ed's family grain and livestock farm. The babies started to come, three daughters and five sons. It was a hard life and Christine worked alongside Ed, learning to drive a tractor and milk cows in the process.

"I was quite happy to learn," she says.

"She was a little hard on fences," he teases.

Ed was offered a teaching positition at a university. He took it, spending seven months a year in the classroom and five months farming.

"We finally had to decide if we were going full-time farming or full-time teaching," Christine says.

In 1956, Ed was asked to be the University of Manitoba's head of agricultural engineering. The family decamped to Winnipeg.

The couple had an exciting life. They lived in Sudan for three years. Masks from a side trip to Kenya decorate the wall of their home office. They stayed active in the church.

"Our faith was our base," Christine says. "We never had differences as far as our faith was concerned."

They worked through any problems that came along.

"We had our differences, but we talked it out," Ed says. "Love went on."

He turns serious when he's pressed for advice on how to stay married.

"The other person is going to have different opinions and so forth. Respect them. Realize that most of them aren't worth arguing about. They don't have to change them.

"You have to be supportive of each other. I wasn't always there when every baby was born. But I was there every night to help out."

They credit annual summer vacations with their kids to keeping their family strong. They'd pack up the car and drive through Canada coast to coast or meander through the United States. They now have 19 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Sara Berger, the couple's 28-year-old granddaughter, was married in 2010. Having them at her wedding was priceless, she says.

"I remember my grandpa putting his arm around my grandma and leaning down to kiss the top of her head. The fact that I was able to see that on my wedding day, to have that example meant everything."

lindor.reynolds@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 13, 2012 B1