‘We just clicked’ say couple on 50th wedding anniversary

A SPRINGFIELD couple who celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last week said the reason for their long and happy marriage is “we get on so well and we work as a team”.

Ken Cooper and his wife Pauline celebrated their golden wedding anniversary with a party in the Old Mill last Friday, June 21.

The couple married in Drumcondra Church of Ireland on June 22, 1974, when Ken was 26 and Pauline was 24.

The path to true love was a slightly meandering one for the couple, as Ken explains: “Pauline had been going out with somebody else the first time we met.

“I was friends with her brother, and I used to do a lot of DJing for youth clubs and before she broke up with the other chap, she asked me to come to her 21st and bring records.

“I arrived there like a fool thinking she’d asked me to go to her 21st with her and I brought my records, but she was with someone else.

“So I just DJed and thought no more about it.”

A few months later, Pauline – now single – and Ken crossed paths again when they travelled to a dance in Greystones together with Pauline’s brother and her friends for an event.

On the way back to Dublin, the group stopped off for some food and rest while Pauline opted for burger and chips, Ken instead opted for a knickerbocker glory, which amused Pauline, and they’ve been together ever since.

When asked when he knew Pauline was the one, Ken said: “I knew reasonably straight away, we just clicked.

“She’s a very caring person. She went to a nursing home for two weeks’ training years ago, but then she stayed there for 13 years.”

The couple moved from the northside to Springfield shortly before they got married, and went on to have a son, Derek, and a daughter, Shirley.

Commenting on what he believes has led to the success of his marriage and the life he has built with Pauline, Ken said: “We just get on so well and we work as a team – we help one another all the time.”