Timeless Valentines Day Love Story
Harry and Doris Ward have a beautiful love story, with a twist. They were just sweethearts when parted by war. Harry presented Doris with a Valentine's Day that day, and that's just the beginning of the story. That first Valentine's day was the start of a lifelong tradition for Harry and Doris.
A True Love Story
There's no danger of 88-year-old Harry Ward forgetting his wife Doris's Valentine's Day card - the couple still use the same one he bought her 70 years ago.
When 17-year-old Harry Ward presented his sweetheart Doris with a Valentine's Day card as he boarded a train to join the wartime effort on 14th February, 1941, he must have been fairly confident his affections would be requited. After all the couple had been dating since they met in a Bristol cafe three months earlier. Little can he have imagined that 70 years on, not only would he still be happily married to Doris, but that every year she would present him with the very same card he gave her at the railway station that Valentine's day.
The Love Story Continues
Now the card is set to make another appearance on the couple's mantelpiece as Mrs. Ward, 87, dusts it off in time the celebrations.
"I bring it out of the cupboard and put it on our mantelpiece every Valentine's Day," she said. "It's as special to me now as it was 70-years-ago. Harry has never bought me one since, because I have this one every year."
The Rest of the Love Story
The couple married in 1942 and they went on to have two daughters, two granddaughters and four great grandchildren. They had met in a cafe in November 1940 after Mrs. Ward, who was in domestic service, had missed her bus home.
Mr. Ward, now 88, told us, "I knew Doris was the one for me the moment I met her. It was a heck of a night during the Blitz, but at least it meant we met each other. I gave her the Valentine's card then and she is still my Valentine now."
Mrs. Ward's card reads, "Two hearts entwine this Valentine. True love makes it sincere".
In addition we were told, "The secret to our happy marriage
is that we never go to bed without a kiss goodnight. We are
as still in love as the day he first gave me this card."
Begin or Build on Your Own Love Story