'We're just one person really': Maple Ridge, B.C. couple celebrates 70th anniversary

Bill Brennanstill can't believe Violet Lacey agreed to go see an Abbott and Costello film with him back in 1943.

"I remember standing outside the cinema and seeing youwalk across the road and I thought, 'She's going out with me?' " said Bill Brennan, 90, recalling their first date.

The couple reminisced about the early days of their romance in a recentinterview with CBC.

"Seventyyears later and you're still telling me off," Brennanadded.

Thecouple celebratedtheir70th wedding anniversaryJuly 12. Bill and Vi, as their family calls them, now live with their daughter and her husbandin Maple Ridge, B.C.

Before moving to Canada in 1982 to be neartheir daughter,they lived and worked in the United Kingdom.

Thecouplemet during the Second World War in Britain, in 1943.

"Bill was in the drawing officers of the OrdnanceSurvey," recalled Violet Brennan. "And I was in the canteen. We used to take biscuits and cakes around at lunch time. I met him then."

"Vi came to the counter," added Bill. "And that was the first time I saw her and I just thought,'Wow.' "

The Ordnance Survey is a U.K. national mapping agency that performed operations during the Second World War. Bill was being trained as a topographical draughtsmanby the survey when he met Violet.

In 1945 he was drafted into the army, where his job was toanalyzeimage-based intelligence of Germany and the Soviet Union.

"I didn't get down on my knees," said Bill Brennanwhen asked about his marriage proposal. "I just said 'shall we get married at Christmas?' and that was it."

"And then of course the commander told me I couldn't get married at Christmas, so we settled for July."

On July 12, 1947, Bill and Violet were married at St. James Church in Southampton, England. And Violet Lacey became Violet Brennan.

Seven decades later

"We very rarely go out any distance without each other," she said. "We're just one person really."

Violet Brennan suffered a stroke recently and lost parts of her memory. She finds support in her husband and their daughter.Each Wednesday she goesto Ridge MeadowsHospital in Maple Ridgeto participate in their day program.

"It's still not good. But it's not too bad," she said. "I can manage."

Listen to the full interview with Bill and Violet:

Despite her memory loss Violet Brennanremembers the love she and her husband shared.

"Vi will say to me, 'Do you still love me?' and I say yes.It's a straight line," said Bill. "It's a straight line all the way through."

With files from On The Coastand Vivian Luk