Ontario couple return to P.E.I. for 50th wedding anniversary

Memories from 50 years ago came flooding back for an Ontario couple who made a quick 6-hour stop in Charlottetown on Saturday.

Alex and Roberta McKinney returned to the place they got married on June 4, 1966.

"It brings back great memories, but it does seem like yesterday,"said Roberta, 71. "We have three children. We have six grandchildren. It's like a blur."

When they flew in Saturday, they went straight from the airport to Trinity United Church, where they were married. Then they dined the Rodd Charlottetown Hotel, the same place they help their rehearsal dinner 50 years ago. They even recreated the meal lobster.

And, of course, they reminisced.

Missed the ferry

They talked about how Alex had to get a blood test before he got married, and how he had to be on P.E.I. three days ahead of time. They barely made it he and his best man had missed their ferry and had to wait for the next one.

"Fifty years has gone by so quickly," Roberta said. "It really is like coming home again."

The happy couple lives in Chaffey's Lock, Ont., just north of Kingston, but still has family on the Island. They got married on P.E.I. because Roberta's parents were living here at the time.

Roberta's grandfather performed the ceremony.

'Saying yes all the time'

Alex, 77, said the secret toa long marriage is "saying yes all the time."

But Roberta knows he's only joking.

"He claims that when my grandfather married me it was wives obey your husbands and I saw my grandfather would never do that to me. So I think that's the secret. We have enough of a difference of opinion, but it works."

Six hours after they arrived, they were on a plane back to Ontario. They still have family on P.E.I., so no doubt they'll be back again a few times before they do it all again for their 75th anniversary.

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