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ESTEVAN - The past 70-plus years have certainly brought a lot of wonderful moments, changes and fond memories for Estevan residents Ken and Arlene Anderson.

The couple was married on July 9, 1951, and celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary last year, with about 100 people attending a come and go social. While there have been the ups and downs associated with any marriage, they remain very much in love, and even though they’re into their 90s, they can still remember how they met, the times they have spent together, and the time spent in the house that has been home for nearly 65 years.

Ken and Arlene met at a dance in Ken’s hometown of Assiniboia back in 1947. Arlene was there with a couple of friends, and he asked Arlene to dance.  

“There she was, sitting on the bench,” said Ken. “I thought ‘Gosh, that’s a pretty girl over there. I think I’ll ask her for a dance.’ So I walked across the hall, I picked her up and we danced. And then I took her out for lunch at midnight, although we didn’t have any lunch. We just sat in the half-tonne truck.” 

Arlene, whose maiden name is LeBlanc, is originally from Estevan and was in school in Moose Jaw at the time of the dance. She started teaching at Defiance School in the Torquay area when she was 18. The next year, she was in Hitchcock.

“Then I decided to go somewhere else. So I looked in the newspaper, and I found two or three different places, and I chose Assiniboia,” she said.  

She returned to Assiniboia in 1949, two years after she met Ken. 

“It was so funny, because it was a Sunday night she came to Assiniboia on the bus, and in Assiniboia, the most excitement there was to do was to come down and watch the bus come in, see who comes off the bus,” Ken recalled.

He was standing with a friend when he saw Arlene emerge from the bus. Ken recognized her right away.  

At the time, he was working for the town’s co-op, delivering oil and gas to farmers, and the highway he drove went right past the school where she was teaching.  

“I would always arrange a trip about 4 o’clock when she was getting out of school, to see if I could see her,” Ken recalled, with Arlene laughing as he shared the story. 

It took more than a month before he saw her leaving the school. From then, they would be together almost every day and night. When Ken played hockey, Arlene would come watch. Then they would go to a restaurant together, and he would take her to where she was boarding. 

When the end of the school year approached, Ken knew he had to do something before Arlene returned to Estevan.  

“I bought a ring in May, because if she goes home … I’ll probably never see her again. So my idea was to buy a ring, get engaged and set a date,” he said.  

They would get married the following year at the Catholic Church in Estevan.

After spending a few years living in south-central Saskatchewan, they moved back to Estevan in 1955. While visiting her family for a holiday, he walked into Flint Rig on Fourth Street with his brother-in-law to apply for a job, and they were hired on the spot to work during the oil boom.

Two years later, they decided to purchase a lot and build a house on Grundeen Crescent. They paid $500 for the land and $11,000 for the house, which he described as a pre-fab house that he built with assistance from the people of Flint Rig. 

“When we built this house, it was the fifth house out in this area,” said Ken. “There was four other ones built around on Thorn Crescent and Hudson Road. The bald-headed Prairie was out there.”  

They moved in on Jan. 6, 1958, and have lived there ever since.

“I had twin girls … and they were just a year old, and I remember them crawling around on the floor, and there was gyprock and all that dust. They were white angels (from the dust),” said Arlene.

For many years, the Andersons’ house was a must-see for people in the community, thanks to the brilliant Christmas display.

Arlene spent about 40 years teaching, most of it in the Catholic system at the former Immaculate Heart Junior High School. Ken’s time with Flint Rig ended in 1970, and he embarked on a new career as painter that lasted 35 years.

The couple knows they will have to move soon. The house was for sale for a while, but it wasn’t sold, but they plan to list it again in the spring.

Ken and Arlene had five children together, and have been blessed with nine grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren.  

They believe the secret to their longevity is spending time together through mutual interest. They golf and curl, and attend hockey and football games.

“We did so many things together. We danced, we golfed. We had a season ticket for the Riders for 25 years,” said Arlene.

They even won trophies for their dancing.  

“We were good dancers. People knew us for that, too,” Arlene said.  

All of their kids golfed, too, and for 25 years, they had a family golf tournament, with a trophy presented to the winner.  

It’s only been in the last couple of years that they have started to slow down.  

If they had a fight or an argument, they would calm down and move on. 

“We did everything together. No matter what it was, we were always together,” said Ken.