By Joan Janzen

“Will you be my Valentine?” - a traditional question posed on Valentine’s Day. Lois and Cliff Sherwin from Kindersley have been valentines for more than 60 years. They were married on May 12, 1962, and will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary this year.

Their wedding took place at a Pentecostal church in Red Deer, Alberta, with three bridesmaids and groomsmen as their attendants. One hundred and fifty guests joined in the celebration. “It was a big wedding for that time,” Lois noted.

“We had all our family and friends at our wedding; I guess that was the main thing,” Cliff said. “It was right during seeding. My parents farmed, and some of our friends from Mantario farmed, but they all came to the wedding.” In agriculture country, everyone recognizes the importance of an occasion when farmers willingly interrupt their seeding operations to attend.

The wedding ceremony went smoothly, but Lois said, “I got kidnapped for about an hour after the reception. Some of my family was in on it. They thought it was fun. I didn’t necessarily think it was fun.”

“I was just barely 19 when I married. Cliff said he was the youngest guy in the church who was raising a teenager.”

The couple met at the Canadian Nazarene College in Red Deer. “I was in Grade 11, and Cliff was a college student,” Lois explained.

“Lois and I have known each other for a long time. Our first date was arranged by Lois’ girlfriend, so it was kind of a blind date. We knew each other, but we didn’t know who we were going out with that night,” Cliff added. “We went skating on our first date. Lois had skates with picks on the front, and that wasn’t working good for her, so we had to go and get them ground off.”

Sixteen months later, the couple married. Cliff had a trucking business in Red Deer and worked for Chrysler Canada, and Lois worked for the Alpha milk company.

The couple have two children. Daughter Brenda Walde lives in Kindersley, and son Glenn lives in Calgary. They also have three grandchildren living in Kindersley, three grandchildren, and one great-grandchild in Calgary.

They moved into their home in Kindersley on July 4, 1975, when they took over the family farm in Mantario. “The main reason we moved to Kindersley to farm was so we would have a good church for our kids to grow up in,” Cliff said.

The couple lived on their farm during the summer and moved back to Kindersley the remainder of the year. Cliff and Lois have lived in their home in Kindersley for 47 years, and they always worked together on their farm. “We were together 24-7,” Lois said.

Cliff readily acknowledged Lois’ contribution to their farm. “Lois hauled grain in the fall and did the harrowing after seeding. She looked after the yard and was outside working a lot of the time. She even tore down a granary all by herself and hauled it out to the nuisance grounds. We had a lot of hedges to cut, and she used to cut 500 feet of hedge. She liked to work outside. She still likes to get out and shovel snow off the driveway,” he concluded. There were years when farming didn’t go well for the couple, but they always managed to pull through.

“We always made it work. Back in those days, nobody thought about divorce. We got married for life,” Lois concluded.

The couple worked hard, but they also had a lot of fun. They enjoy going camping every year in their trailer and have fond memories of their first big holiday with their kids when they went to Disneyland. Twice a year, they would visit their parents and relatives at Penticton and the Okanogan and enjoy holidays at Mazatlan, Hawaii, Arizona, the Maritimes, and Victoria throughout their years of marriage.

When Cliff was asked the secret to their long-lasting relationship, he chuckled, “I guess we must like each other.” And then, on a more serious note, added, “We have respect for each other. And our Christian faith has played a main part in keeping us together.”

The couple said they have enjoyed good health and are looking forward to celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary this spring.