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Vintage Valentine
Report by Robert Walker
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Valentine's Day was tinged with sadness this year for 102-year-old Olive Hodges.
She'd been looking forward to celebrating her 77th wedding anniversary in April but, sadly, her husband Fred died over the weekend.
Olive told our reporter Bob Walker about her long courtship and marriage, a relationship she says was marked by their intense love for one another.
The couple met during the First World War when they went skating on a frozen field. Appropriately enough they first set eyes upon each other as they went through a kissing gate (a sort of combined gate and stile) into the field.
Olive couldn't understand why she kept losing her balance on the ice as she was convinced she was a good skater. It was only years later that Fred admitted he'd stealthily been knocking her over in order to help pick her up.
Six months later Fred was called up and survived the Battle of the Somme unscathed. They met again in a local park after the Armistice, although Olive didn't at first recognise the young man who kept deliberately walking past her, raising his hat as he did so.
Olive says there's no great secret to a long and happy marriage, just a strong love.
She says her love for her husband grew stronger every day and that they often re-assured each other about the depth of their affection.
Their son John says his parents were born in the Victorian age when divorce was frowned upon. Their commitment to each other had been cemented by their strong Christian faith.
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Olive Hodges |
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Olive Hodges and Fred |
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