Former teenage sweethearts Mamie, 96, and Gerald, 95, celebrate 75 years of marriage
One of the UK’s longest-married couples have celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary at our Chichester care home where they both live.
Sarah, known as ‘Mamie’, Openshaw, 96, and her husband Gerald, 95, marked their amazing milestone with a party at Wellington Grange.
Mamie was just 15 and Gerald 14 when they first met at their local Baptist church in Dorking, Surrey.
Life went on to take the teenage sweethearts in different directions as Mamie moved to America for a year while Gerald did his National Service.
But fate had other plans.
When Mamie returned to England, she signed up with the Women’s Royal Naval Service and trained as an air force mechanic in Cornwall, next door to the very place Gerald had been stationed with the army.
With their paths crossing again, they began to meet up on weekends or otherwise when their respective service commitments allowed.
Six months later they were engaged.
They married at St Paul’s Church in Dorking on a snowy day in spring 1950 and began their married life in Brighton.
Moving to a civilian career in the police, Gerald climbed the ranks to become an Assistant Chief Constable while Mamie raised their children, two sons and a daughter.
Away from work and family responsibilities, their outside interests included playing tennis and golf together until relatively late in life. They moved to Wellington Grange in September 2024.
The anniversary party was blessed by sunshine in the garden of the Broyle Road home and included a live performance of show tunes by singer Katie Brown. Among the guests in attendance were the couple’s son Ralph and his partner Gabby.
Chelmsford-born Gerald grinned as he took in the cloudless blue sky and said: “God’s making it up to us after it snowed on our wedding day.”
When asked the secret to their 75 years together, Mamie said: “We made a pact never to go to bed on an argument. Always sort it out before sleep.”
The home’s Companionship Team leader Lana Harmon said: “We were honoured to throw a joyful celebration for Mamie and Gerald, a couple whose love has truly stood the test of time.”
While statistics on British 75th wedding anniversaries are not consistently collected, the US Census Bureau estimates there are only around 1,000 American couples who have currently reached the milestone. That’s less than a tenth of one per cent of all US marriages.
In the UK, the 75th was traditionally considered the diamond wedding anniversary until the gemstone began to be associated with 60 years of marriage after Queen Victoria celebrated her diamond jubilee in 1897.