China teacups and 65 perfect roses were on hand along with friends and family to celebrate Ina and Gordon Bedford’s sixty-fifth year of marriage. The celebration took place at the home of their daughter and son-in-law, Lesley and Bill Lloyd, and was blessed with the gift of good weather.
People came from as far away as Regina and Los Angeles to visit, eat cake and honour the anniversary.
The couple met in Oliver at a street celebration for the end of the second world war with Germany in 1945. Gordon had just returned from serving 3.5 years in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
The two were married in Oliver on July 6, 1946, and had four children by the time they moved to the Cariboo in 1957: Sylvia, Lesley and twin boys Charles and Frank.
Gordon had gotten a job with the Ministry of Transport at the time as an airport mechanic at the Dog Creek Airport, and the family lived there until the 12 families at the airport were moved in to Williams Lake in 1960.Gordon then worked at the Williams Lake Airport for the Ministry of Transport.
After retirement, they remained in the Cariboo near their three surviving children (Frank passed away in 1978), 11 grandchildren and many great and great-great grandchildren.