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Larry and Helen Frey figure no one else had a wedding night quite like theirs.
On that chilly November night in 1951, they came home to a rugged prairie house with no cupboards or electricity.
“We had to take our bed apart, bring it out where this cookstove was. You light a fire and get everything warmed up,” said Larry, who’s now 96. “That’s how tough life was.”
Their love and sense of humour is still burning strong 75 years later. Helen, 97, has a big chuckle recalling that frosty wedding night.
“I thought it was great,” she laughs.
“Nobody has that story to tell, [that] they had to take their bed apart and put it beside the kitchen stove before they could have sex that night. What the heck!”
Life’s challenges clearly did not deter the. The Freys are now celebrating a huge milestone at their home in Fort Qu’Appelle, Sask.: a wedding anniversary marking three-quarters of a century together.
Helen, left, and Larry Frey remember having to do everything for themselves: growing their own food, building their own barn and home, and farming to make their living. (Submitted by Cheryl Lendvoy)
They’ve seen huge changes in the world, from farming with horses and having no phones to zipping across the country in an electric car and Facetiming their children on cell phones.
They first met when he was 21 and she was 22.
“I married an older woman because I was told they were more fun,” Larry jokes.
Helen was working as a clerk at a store when she made up her mind about getting to know Larry. They hadn’t even met at that point, but she’d heard he was a caring man, she says.
“So when I first saw him walk in the store, I thought, ‘Oh my God, I chose him, and how funny-looking he is and how young he is.'”
Larry says he noticed her figure immediately.
“She still looks the same,” he adds.
Biggest changes in their lifetime
Farming was hard work. Larry says things changed drastically over the years, from using literal horse power with a team of horses and threshing machines, to using high-powered machines.
He’s always been crazy about cars, and even now, he still picks the best. Larry’s eyes grow big with excitement when he talks about driving his electric car.
Larry and Helen Frey in their electric vehicle on a Saskatchewan highway. (Submitted by Cheryl Lendvoy)
Growing up, there were hardly any paved roads. For their early dates, the couple often went on horseback.
Electricity made the biggest change in their lifetime.
“[You] didn’t have to go down the cellar to get something to eat,” Larry recalls. “A refrigerator, a block heater on a car. You didn’t have to light a fire under the damn thing. These were big changes.”
Another big change was in the people around them: four children, 10 grandkids, 16 great-grandkids and even one great-great-grandchild. Family and friends will all join them this month to celebrate their exciting milestone.
Larry and Helen Frey on their wedding day 75 years ago. (Submitted by Cheryl Lendvoy)
Do they have tips on how to stay happily married?
Larry’s advice is short and to the point: “Button your lip.”
Sometimes the best thing in a relationship is to give your partner space, he says.
Helen says she isn’t qualified to give advice.
“The years just go by and you keep on living life,” she says, noting that over the course of their relationship, they’ve shared amazing moments of joy but also hardships and tragedy. They’ve met all of it together.
“Live every day as you find it,” she says, looking over to her husband.
“I just look at him and think, ‘Oh God, he’s mine.’ And I’m so thankful.”
