​Bob and Wendy Scott celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary

Bob Scott and Wendy Cleland met in Grade 9 and have been together ever since.

Last week, they celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.

Bob is the son of Jack and Mary Scott, born and raised on the 4th Concession of Huron Township. He went as far as Grade 13 at the high school in Ripley before becoming a full-time farmer.

Meanwhile, Wendy Gore (later Cleland) was born in Redruth, Cornwall, England. Her mother was from Dunnville, Ontario, and met her father during the Second World War, when he came to Canada to train at Port Albert and Dunnville.

They married and moved to England, but he was killed in the war when Wendy was only four months old. She and her mother moved back to Canada, to Dunnville, when she was 18 months old. Later, her mother married Hugh Cleland of Listowel who was a farmer and cheese-maker. They moved to the 12th Concession of Huron Township and he worked for the Huron Cheese Factory.

Wendy attended Ripley High School where she met Bob when she was 15 years old. And they have been together ever since, except for the three years she attended nursing school at Stratford General Hospital and became a Registered Nurse.

They were married Dec. 26, 1964, at the Blyth United Church.

Wendy remembers it was a beautiful day, with her attendants all decked out in red dresses.

The coloured photographs were thanks to her brother, Charles, who was helping the photographer bring in his equipment for the wedding photos. It was the first time the photographer had brought his colour camera along. As it happens, Charles dropped the black-and-white camera by accident, which is why they have coloured wedding photos.

They travelled to Florida for their honeymoon but had no particular destination in mind. They stayed in London overnight and drove to the Detroit airport where they asked for a flight to Florida. The man at the ticket booth asked where in Florida and they weren’t sure, so he suggested Miami, and they were off.

“I paid for the tickets in cash,” recalls Wendy, “and we arrived in Miami at 3 a.m. We hailed a taxi and the cab driver found us a hotel room for seven days for $50 because that’s all we had left. It was right on the ocean.”

After their week-long honeymoon, they returned to Detroit but were dropped off at the wrong airport. Finally, they reached the larger airport, retrieved their car and headed home. They had just enough money to pay for breakfast.

The couple lived and farmed on the 4th of Huron, before building their new house on Highway 21, just south of Pine River, and moving there in 1983.

Bob has been an egg farmer for 55 years. He also worked in real estate for 26 years in Kincardine.

Right out of nursing school, Wendy was hired by Lexie Bell at the Kincardine Hospital. She worked there until retiring in 1983, but then worked three more years at the hospitals in Wingham and Owen Sound. She then worked for 16 years at Trillium Court Seniors’ Community in Kincardine.

Up until about five years, ago, the Scotts ran the Belvedere House Bed and Breakfast out of their home on Highway 21.

They have three children: Jeff Scott who is a realtor in Kincardine, Heather Graham who works at the hospital in Goderich, and Jennie MacKenzie who teaches in China; Jennie’s husband, Paul, is the director of the school there.

They also have seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, with a fourth one due in April.

Bob and Wendy celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2014, with a party at their condo in Florida, where they travel in March and November each year. There are a number of people from Kincardine in that part of Florida so they get together for dinner.

They celebrated their 60th anniversary in July with all their family home for the party. They also marked the actual anniversary date with a Christmas get-together, earlier this month, at the Point Clark Community Centre. There were about 80 people in attendance, and Norm Gauthier’s band provided the entertainment.

Over the years, the Scotts have enjoyed travelling to many places. They like to go out for dinner, and they enjoy live theatre. And Bob makes breakfast for them every morning.

So, how do you stay married for 60 years?

“You have to be a good negotiator,” says Bob.

“We like to socialize,” says Wendy. “When Bob had his brain tumour surgery, we were told what to do for his rehabilitation, and one of the major things was socialization. We took that very seriously.”

“It takes a lot of patience,” says Bob.

“We’re still Toronto Maple Leafs fans,” says Wendy.

“You can have an argument, but you forgive and move on,” says Bob.

“You have to work together,” says Wendy.

On their 50th anniversary, Bob paid tribute to his wife, noting that she is always concerned about the well-being of their family, prepares beautiful meals for friends and family, loves to keep their home and property looking good, provided endless hours of care for him when he had his operation in 2012, loves to travel, and enjoys going to hockey games.



Bob (left) and Wendy Scott pose with the Christmas tree at their home on Highway 21, just south of Pine River, after celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary, Dec. 26