AFTER 60 happy years together, David and Pam Dickens are soon to celebrate their Diamond Wedding Anniversary in Braintree.
David and Pam were married in Reading on September 19, 1964, and they have lived in Braintree and raised their three children in the town for most of their lives.
David, 87, and Pam, 81, knew each other when they were teenagers, but it wasn’t until they were around 20 that their romance first blossomed.
David had just finished his two years of national service with the RAF, and Pam had returned to work in England after some time in Canada.
When walking through their hometown of Reading, David saw “an attractive young lady, wearing the swirly skirts of the 1960s” walking with a woman he knew.
This turned out to be Pam, who stopped to say hello and who David barely recognised as the woman who used to be friends with his younger brother, Clive.
Later, Pam, David and Clive had a day trip to the Thames Valley and walked up Streatley Hill to look out over the fields and the river.
David recalled: “Halfway up, Pam was clearly struggling, so Clive and I both held out our hands to help her.”
Pam said: “I took David’s hand.”
David said: “I’d had my share of teenage romances, and my courtship with Pam just felt different.
“And then came Christmas in about 1960, which included an engagement ring as a present, and I asked if she would marry me.”
The pair arranged their wedding at a little chapel, with David’s brother Clive as the organist and a children’s choir David had trained filling the space with their angelic voices.
David said: “We still have about fifteen minutes of the recording, which includes the singing of the hymn, and the junior choir singing a verse on their own which comes out beautifully on the recording.
“We will be playing those at our service at Christchurch, when we renew our promises.”
After a honeymoon with family in Cornwall, the pair decided to start their family and their home.
David worked in Chelmsford at Marconi Radio Factory and later trained to be a Minister, while Pam was especially proud to be a homemaker.
She had their first son Steven, now 59, and then Andrew, now 57.
Then they decided they wanted a little girl and chose to adopt Rachel, now 50.
Pam was adopted at nine years old, and she had hardly known a true home in her childhood.
She said: “I wanted to make a home of my own and for my children.”
David said: “Pam had a hard job, full responsibility for the children, and so I consider it is a harder job that what most of us finish up doing.”
Pam also started a play group for toddlers, before government regulations changed and it became too hard and complicated to do so.
They toured the world together for their Golden Wedding Anniversary, taking a train over the mountains in Norway between Bergen and Oslo, driving to Dunkirk and getting a ferry back to Calais.
David said: “We have been very happy."
“Love needs the balance of attraction and commitment,” he added, as he recalled the seven Greek words for love.
“The most important for me is agape, which means unconditional love which puts the other person first.
“It describes the totality of love, which is a commitment to other people.
“Agape will endure.”
Pam and David will celebrate with a Renewal of Vows service at Christ Church on London Road, on Sunday, September 22.
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