LITTLE CURRENT—This Valentine’s Day will mark barely a month until Little Current’s Pee Wee and Ting Oliver celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary on March 15. (That’s Wilbert and Dorothy Oliver actually, but you would be pressed to find someone who uses those names.) The couple will also be celebrating both their birthdays in February, Mr. Oliver will be 89 and his wife a year younger.
“We first met at school,” recalls Mr. Oliver. But it was his love of construction work and ice skating that helped cement the burgeoning friendship that would go on to fuel seven decades of marital bliss.
“Her father was building a house across the street from where my parents lived in Sault Ste. Marie,” said Mr. Oliver, who was 12 at the time. “I would go over there to watch and learn what I could about building, and there was this girl sitting on a pile of lumber.” As you probably have guessed, that girl was Ting. Mr. Oliver was soon helping out with the building project.
“You were always helping my dad, but you were very young,” said Ms. Oliver. “He was also my paperboy.”
In fact, Mr. Oliver did have a paper route at the time and he soon found himself spending some of his hard-earned wages on chocolate bars that he gave to Ting. “That was what won her over, the chocolate,” laughed Mr. Oliver. “She was probably fascinated with the chocolate bars I would buy her.” Ms. Oliver smiles, but doesn’t correct that speculation.
“We went together for about five years, I guess,” said Mr. Oliver. “Ever since we were young,” interjects Ms. Oliver.
“I think it was me who set my sights on her first,” said Mr. Oliver.
At 16, Mr. Oliver left school and went to work as an iron worker at the Algoma Steel Mill in Sault Ste. Marie but even though the money was welcome, that job didn’t hold much of a grip on the young Mr. Oliver. The war and a recovering domestic market made it easy for young men to find work. Ms. Oliver was working cash at a local store called Pinche’s as she grew up. “Later I worked the floor at Kresge’s until I got married,” she said.
“She was nice, polite and fun to be with,” recalled Mr. Oliver of the woman who was to become the love of his life. “We seemed to hit it off.”
Mr. Oliver played football, hockey and baseball in Sault Ste. Marie. At Sault Collegiate, he played third base on the ball team. He played hockey for the Sault Redmen in the Jr. A league and the Buckley Cubs. This was the team that later morphed into the Sault Greyhounds.
Ms. Oliver shared a love of skating with Mr. Oliver (in her case, figure skating) and she practiced at a nearby pond were Mr. Oliver would join her. The couple attended dances at the Steelworker’s Hall, burning up the floor with the Jitterbug and the twist.
The couple were married on March 15, 1949 at the Salvation Army Headquarters in Sault Ste. Marie and the reception with 25 guests was held at Ting’s parents’ home. “There was no snow left and the sunshine warmed the wedding party,” she recalled.
Mr. Oliver almost arrived late for the wedding, as he had been playing center for the Sault Redmen in Sudbury. Since train connections were not to be had, the team left Sudbury on what were then some “pretty bad roads.” He ended up getting lost on the way.
“We were pressed for time to get back before the wedding. To top it off, we got lost but thankfully, made it back late that evening before the wedding,” chuckled Mr. Oliver.
There wasn’t time for a honeymoon as Mr. Oliver had to return to work (and of course hockey), but three months later the couple were able to get some time off and decided to visit Manitoulin.
“Pee Wee spent three of our six days playing hockey in Sudbury,” laughed Ms. Oliver. “The remaining three days we spent on Manitoulin.” When Ms. Oliver’s father decided to move back to Manitoulin to start a construction business, the stars began to align.
The couple originally moved to Evansville, where they lived until 1962, and Mr. Oliver played hockey in the winter for the Gore Bay Senior League squad and baseball in the summer.
In 1962 the couple moved moved to Little Current where Mr. Oliver built the house they currently live in. The work was done mostly on weekends, but occasionally some evenings were available as well.
“I had used Rowe’s boarding house in Little Current from time to time but it made sense to move closer to where most of the work was,” said Mr. Oliver. Gore Bay’s loss was Little Current’s gain. “There was quite a rivalry,” recalled Mr. Oliver, “between Gore Bay, Little Current and Wiky.” For Ms. Oliver, the draw was curling. Mr. Oliver began to be a part of the Little Current senior hockey league team, going on to coach the Rolston’s Senior team.
The couple raised four children, Roger (who sadly passed at age 48 from a heart condition), Darlene, Michael and Wanda. Together they now have nine grandchildren, 12 great grandchildren and four great great grandchildren.
“We love them all,” said Ms. Oliver. “I’m Ma-Ting and he is Pa-Pee Wee.”
As to the secrets of a long and happy marriage? “Well, it’s been a lot of hard work but we have had a good life,” said Mr. Oliver. “It’s keeping the family together by doing as much as possible with them,” added Ms. Oliver.
“I raised the children,” said Ms. Oliver, “but now he does the cooking.”
Sharing the good times and the bad has laid a foundation that the years have never shaken.
