Endless love

When Mary Borda was a teenager, she would sneak out of the house behind her mother’s back to go and meet her darling Joey and the smitten couple would stroll along the streets of Guardamangia.

“I never went out during the night but I did meet him behind my mother’s back during daytime... Had my mother found out she would have chopped my head off,” 86-year-old Mrs Borda grinned.

Her mischievous rendezvous with her beloved Joey paid off and the couple have been married for 70 years.

“We got married on August 23, 1941 at the Ħamrun parish church as bombs fell around us during the war,” Mrs Borda recalled, adding she and her husband went on to have four sons and four daughters.

Three years ago, her husband, now 91, had an accident and injured his hip. She started finding it difficult to look after him and the house so they decided to move into a home together.

The Bordas were among 14 couples who gathered for a lunch at the Prince of Wales home for the elderly in Sliema to celebrate Valentine’s Day yesterday. The event was organised by Care Malta, a company that operates seven homes for the elderly.

During the event, the Parliamentary Secretary for the Elderly, Mario Galea thanked the couples for the family values they represented.

He urged them to transmit a positive message about marriage at a time when the proposed divorce Bill risked shattering those values.

Together, the 14 couples made up about 700 years of married life and some shared their “secrets” to a happy marriage.

“Think well before you get married and make sure you are ready for it. Nowadays, couples are not prepared for the commitment,” Mrs Borda said, adding the secret to a successful marriage was commitment and love.

“If you love someone you are willing to forgive and close an eye whenever necessary,” she smiled.

Rose Galea, 75, met her husband Tarcisio when he lived with his sister whose house she often visited. They have been together for almost half a century.

“For a marriage to be happy the wife has to learn how to bite her tongue,” Mrs Galea said, adding she was always understanding towards her husband after a hard day at work.

Nodding in agreement, her 87-year-old husband said: “Marriage is a nice thing. I would do it again any day... Trusting in one another and understanding are important.”

Similarly, Catherine Magro, 84, and her 87-year-old husband, Saviour, who have been married for 55 years, believe commitment and dedication are key components to married life.

“I used to see him walking in the road while I sat in the window of my mother’s house,” Mrs Magro said as her husband recalled how, one fine day, he plucked up the courage to speak to her. The two went on to get married and had four children. Three years ago they both moved into a home after Mrs Magro got tired of managing their large house.

“Throughout these years we’ve agreed and disagreed... but in the end, here we are, still together,” she said.