It’s a musical reference that wouldn’t make any sense to anyone in their gang, but Barbara Jean Vale made her intentions clear to then-boyfriend Ken Canning more than 69 years ago – ‘if ya like it, ya better put a ring on it.’
The Cochrane couple – who probably don’t know who Beyonce is – are celebrating their 69th anniversary Nov. 13.
Ken, who is now 93, doesn’t recall if he ever asked permission from Barbara’s father to ask for her hand, or if it was even necessary.
“We were together for five years, so he must’ve known something was up,” he said from his wheelchair at Bethany Cochrane during a Nov. 11 interview.
To hear Canning tell it, his girlfriend made it very clear to him that after five years of courting, he better make his move soon.
He does remember the moment she went from being “just another girl” to something more.
They were leaving the church in Winnipeg after a play rehearsal when Barbara asked him for a ride home in his father’s Ford. He didn’t have any idea where she lived, but when she told him, he suspected something was up.
“She lived six doors from the church,” he said. “Up until that time I didn’t know anything about her, but she had her eye on me, I guess.”
“I think she picked me first.”
The church isn’t there anymore, but 69 years later, the Cannings are still going strong.
Asked to describe the details of the romantic moment – the actual proposal five years later – Canning pauses before admitting, “I don’t remember when or why.”
He was transferred back and forth between Winnipeg and Calgary a couple of times before he told his bosses at CP Rail that he’d had it with being bounced around; his kids were about to start school and he wanted to stay in Calgary and give them a chance to settle down somewhere.
They settled in Glendale (just east of Cochrane), built a house, and the two girls and three boys went to school in Cochrane.
He has a long history of home ownership, having bought his first home in Winnipeg before he popped the question to Barbara.
Finance before fiancée.
He had already begun his career with CP Rail, but still needed help.
“It was $5,000. I needed a mortgage. I had a friend working in a mortgage outfit, and he said, ‘We’ll take it,’” Canning said.
He reflects on those pre-marriage days with fondness. When the house needed painting, “the gang” (his pals that hung out together) showed up with rollers and brushes and got the job done in a day.
Whenever they moved, they bought a house, which worked out well, as Canning said the economy was generally “on the up.”
Five children and seven grandchildren later, they have done well, even though he never finished high school.
“I did take Grade 11 twice, though,” he said with a laugh, adding he had gotten a job, so didn’t see the point in starting his senior year.
And the inevitable question about what he considers the secret to a long, long, happy marriage may not qualify as much of a surprise.
“Getting along,” he said.
It’s that simple, apparently – he does not elaborate.
Their daughter Sheila French confirms.
“I don’t ever remember them having any arguments – maybe they did behind closed doors,” she said. “It obviously worked for them.”
