MARRIED 65 YEARS AGO

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21811, 17 June 1936, Page 3

MARRIED 65 YEARS AGO

1&R AN& MES & H. PRIEST

FAMILY GATHERING TO-DAY

On June 17,1871, exactly % years ago to-day, the marriage of Mr Frank H. Priest and Miss Louisa Ann Day was solemnised at Heathcote by the Rev. H. Cholmondeley, and to-day Mr and F* H. Priest will be entertained by their family of six sons and seven daughters and their descendants at their home, in Barbour street, Linwood.

Although Mr Priest arrived at Lyttelton in the Travancore when he was only three years old. he has hardly been out of Canterbury since and has never made a visit to England to see his birthplace, Ipswich. Mrs Priest has also lived her life in Canterbury; she was bom in Sumner. Both Mr and Mrs Priest are in good health at present, and (he former has no need of glasses to read his newspaper, although he is slightly deaf. Mrs Priest, however, has been a semi-invalid for about two years. When he was seen yesterday afternoon by a representative of “The Press,” Mr Priest said that he did not think that the present generation was as hardy as the men of his day. He recalled the time when he was a young man and said that the place where his house is situated in Barbour street was nothng but a swampy marsh. He doubted if the present-day young man would be able to put up with the hardships of the pioneering days as well as the early settlers. The modern luxuries of motor-cars and wireless sets he thought had tended to weaken the present generation, but he admitted ruefully that he wished that he had been able to own a car or a wireless in his younger days, and said that he would most certainly have done so if they had been available and he had the money with which to buy them. Mrs Priest appeared to be in agreement with these sentiments, although she would not criticise the young men of to-day for any of the faults which Mr Priest found with thpm. One luxury, and only one, Mr Priest has allowed himself, and that is tobacco. He said that he was a heavy pipe smoker, and had been for about 70 years. Nothing had ever happened to him through smoking and he hoped that he would be able to continue enjoying a pipe for many years yet. His main hobby now is gardening, and all the plots at the back of his home had recently been dug by him. In his early life he was a carpenter by trade, and has been connected with many of the older established firms in the city. He retired from active work about 10 years ago, when he was 78 years old. Both he and Mrs Priest have been looking forward to to-day when their descendants, who are scattered throughout New Zealand, will join in celebrating their wedding anniversary.