Hilda and Lew Duddridge not only defied the odds of falling in love during the war and having near-death experiences, but they also both reached the incredible milestone of 100 years of age.
Langford resident Hilda, one of the last remaining Second World War brides, turned 100 in September, growing closer to the milestone her husband Lew reached, who died at age 104 in January 2023.
The two sweethearts met in the Second World War when Lew, a Canadian soldier, met Hilda, who was on a holiday with five other girls, at a railway station in Crewe, England.
"The train was late because of an air raid, so we were sitting on our suitcases on the open platform. This Air Force officer was walking by, he kept looking at us, and we walked by and started to giggle," Hilda recalled.
"He saw that we were getting on the same train as he was. So he came over and asked if he could carry my suitcase onto the train for me."
He proposed to her within the week but she didn't say yes until he met her parents. "I said, 'I can't make up my mind that quick. My mother would kill me besides'," Hilda recalled. Six months later they were married.
What was significant about that period of their lives was how they both survived incredible circumstances, pointed out Hilda's son Roger.
During the war, Hilda's parents' new pub was bombed three days after they purchased it.
"Her father was answering the door," Roger Duddridge explained. "The door blew back on him and the guy outside that knocked on the door had died."
"The pub was just gone," said Hilda, who was at a dance that night. She spent the next three months living at a friend's house.
Her workplace was also bombed when she wasn't there, but luckily it didn't explode.
Lew, a Lancaster bomber pilot, was equally fortunate. He was one of only two men, the other being his brother, a Spitfire pilot, of the 13 volunteers in the air force from Hanley who survived the war.
Despite both their good fortunes, Hilda saw the sombre effects of the war all around her. Prior to meeting Lew, Hilda worked at the switchboard sending telegrams, many bearing terrible news, including that a friend's fiance was missing in action. "We felt terrible for her. She never saw him again."
Remembrance Day remains meaningful for her in remembering those who were lost.
"There were a lot of people who died that I knew, just in air raids, but there were a lot of our boys who didn't come home either," she said.
Hilda also has unique memories of what it was like to be a war bride.
During their first year of marriage, Hilda lived with her parents while she had their first child. Getting to Canada to be with him wasn't simple as thousands of other war brides were waiting to get approved to move to Canada.
Eventually, Hilda, a young girl who had never travelled outside of England, was on a militarized ship to Canada sleeping in a bunk bed, with the girls excitedly asking one another where they were going.
Hilda later learned from a train passenger that the town she was going to – Hanley, Saskatchewan – had only 500 people.
"I said, what's it like? And he said, 'See that table? It's as flat as that table.'"
She remembered the surreal moment when she saw her husband. "It was funny seeing him because I hadn't seen him for a whole year. And I'd only known him six months before that. So it was almost like a stranger."
But despite that initial strangeness, the two went on to have a full life together. The pair had four children, six grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. They eventually made their way to the West Coast because Lew promised after 25 years in the prairies, to take her somewhere that reminded her of Wales.
The pair were well-matched in terms of love for adventure; in their 60s, they both loved to fly in the little plane Lew owned, taking trips around the Gulf of Mexico, and Guatemala; they also flew back and forth over the Rockies 24 times together.
Hilda said their sense of adventure was their secret to longevity.
"Well, we both enjoyed living, it was just fun being together, so we were a good match. He was full of adventure. I never knew what he was going to do next. Life was full of surprises."
Their love and positivity also touched the lives of those who witnessed it, including granddaughter Natalie Duddridge.
"To this day, whenever I'm overwhelmed, I always think of my grandma, because she always gets things done with such a positive spirit," Natalie said.
Roger added that they, "lived a life of adventure, extremely tense times and so many joyous happy times."
"I'm just amazed, really, how much they've done in their lives. It just keeps on adding up. Now they've both been 100, what can they do next? Even mom says, 'Well, that's the last party because we've thrown so many parties," he said.
And Hilda's playful spirit remains.
"At the moment, Lew is the winner. He's lived the longest. [Now], she has to beat him."
