THE COMEBACK:

will you marry me?

yes!

THE MESSAGE:

The saddest day of my life occurred on September 24, 2018. My beautiful wife Ann Marie passed away. Her life was a wonderful example of love, honesty, reliability, character, truth and respect. Her vision of life was an incredible reality. Ann Marie’s acceptance of hurdles and basic solutions was a lesson for all who knew and loved her. She was a exemplary soul, a gorgeous wife, an unselfish mother, a caring sister and a dedicated NONNA. When Annie agreed to be my wife in 1964, I went from somewhat of a lost soul to the luckiest man on earth! We moved to Lindsay, Ontario in 1964 where Annie became the best elementary school teacher in the area. At age 20, she was hired as the Principal of the Catholic School In Downeyville. Her career later included stints in Lindsay and Fenelon. Parents were known to demand that Ann Marie was their choice of teacher when she taught one of the two grade six classes in Fenelon ES. God Bless Her Soul!

TONY TODAY:

Following is Ann Marie’s speech on our 50th Wedding Anniversary.

Thank you for celebrating our wedding anniversary with us today.
Thank you to our family and friends who were here 50 years ago.To my brothers and sisters who have never been more than a phone call away, I say, aren't we fortunate & thank you. Thank you to those who joined us along the way;- friends, nieces, nephews, and our beautiful grandchildren. Thank you to our children......... if I could give you any gift at all, I would give you my vision so you could see through my eyes just how truly magnificent you are.
Missing today, but here in spirit is my beautiful sister, Jane, and her husband, David. 50 yrs ago, Jane was my Maid of Honour. She was quite excited about attending today's festivities....but it was not to be. For the past 5 months Jane has been challenged with leukemia. She is progressing well and has a KICKBUTT attitude (thanks Steve for that phrase). If all goes as planned, we will see her in November, and the celebration will continue.

Well, according to GOOGLE, and therefore it must be true, a 50th wedding anniversary is a rare event. Some possible reasons for this are that in 1964 the life expectancy was 69.7years••.•you can do the Math on that. Also in the 70's, people were busy 'finding themselves' and went out on personal quests, so marriage was often postponed. Or it may be that in order to be married for half a century one has to be old. I'm certainly not ready to admit that••

August 22, 1964, was the last time I was in this room. 1964 was a memorable year:

The Beatles came to North America and wrote their "love" music............our music went from Do Wah Diddy Diddy and lolly pop lolly pop to 'Can't Buy me Love' and 'I want to Hold your Hand';

A new house cost $30,000; Average income was $6,000; Eggs cost 34 cents per dozen; Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup.....and,best of all, Tony and I were married.

The Beatles are no longer a group but John did write one of my favourite songs, 'Imagine'.-·The cost of living has certainly changed; and with any luck the Leafs will own the Cup for this coming hockey season;

In1964 I was at the top of my game. I had all the answers; I owned the world and the road ahead was paved with gold. I was so in love. Now I'd like to move ahead to 2014 and talk to my husband.

But I must confess, I don't have all the answers. I have learned that in order to have all the answers you have to first know the questions; the questions can be complex and the answers not so clear & at times,just confusing;

The road we voyaged was not always paved with gold......there were many bumps, mountains we had to climb and sometimes we had to find our way where the road was completely washed out. We were challenged with tests that we weren't prepared for and we have learned lessons we never wanted to learn;

Most importantly though, we are still married. We have been lucky. In 1967 our beautiful daughter, Jennifer arrived followed 18 months later by Stephen and Michael our curious and rambunctious twinbangers. When one is living with Irish triplets you learn patience and tolerance; occurences like broken down cars, or which bills need to be paid become inconsequential. In 1973, Stefanie arrived on the scene;a talented little gymnast who could go to the fridge and help herself by the time she was3. From early on she was able to light up a room and make problems disappear. We all miss Stefanie, we know she’s also here in spirit; losing her was, and continues to be our sadness. Robert followed in1976 and taught us all that's good about being human. He embodies the essence of goodness. We welcomed Nancy to our family in 1984 as a spirited teenager, whom we had to teach the importance of education••••• one has to go to school every day and one needs a license in order to drive a car. By 1992 we had five children in University. In 1994 the first of our 16 wonderful granchildren arrived.

As you can see, life has been busy and often challenging. We had no time to think about finding ourselves, and if we fell down, we just had to get up again and move forward, which we did and the road ahead has brought us to today's celebration.

We have been so fortunate. There is something to the saying that " the harder you work, the luckier you get". We did work hard and we had many challenges, but we also experienced much joy and we lived many "high”moments. We also had all of you as part of our world. Thank you all for being part of our exciting journey. And to you, my dear Tony, Thank you for travelling this road with me. I love you more today than I did 50 years ago.