‘Secret to 70 years of marriage? Give and take’
A MATCH-MAKING grandmother was responsible for Roy and Vie Trustum meeting up and eventually getting married.
It was a marriage that yesterday celebrated its 70th – platinum – anniversary.
Mr Trustum said that it was when his grandmother was staying at a guest house in Portsmouth that she told the landlady about her ‘nice grandson’ and the landlady passed his details on to her niece.
That led to the two exchanging letters and Mr Trustum eventually going to meet his future wife in Portsmouth.
It turned out that Mrs Trustum’s father was a Guernseyman, a Mahy, who had served in the Navy.
The couple decided to get married and settle in Guernsey but because not all of Mrs Trustum’s family could make it over for the wedding, they honeymooned in Portsmouth.
But with the only flights to Southampton leaving at 10am on a Saturday, that meant an 8am wedding.
That took place at the Town Church on 15 September 1953, when Mr Trustum was 20 and his bride 18.
Back home again he carried on working as a painter and decorator for Charles Smith, who had a business in St John’s Street.
After that he took on a role at the new Beau Sejour centre and ended up as a theatre technician.
Joining Gadoc, he also helped create sets for the group’s many productions at the centre.
He has also worked for Randall’s Brewery, as a bus driver, and working for a pest control firm.
Away from work, Mr Trustum was a long-serving chairman for the local Age Concern group and he and his wife were present at its big 30th anniversary celebration last week.
Mrs Trustum, meanwhile, also had various jobs including as an usherette at Beau Sejour,
The couple also ran the grocery shop at La Villette in St Martin’s for a few years.
Yesterday they enjoyed a family celebration at La Villette Hotel with two of their three children – one was out of the island – and some of their six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
And the secret to staying married for 70 years? ‘Give and take,’ said Mrs Trustum.
‘Look after each other,’ said Mr Trustum.
‘Try and put things right before they get too serious. We got on well before we got married and when we got married we carried on doing the same thing.’
