Culled from Punch NG
92-year-old Gabriel Olayide Olusanya and his 90-year-old wife, Florence
Olusanya, are a retired civil servant and a business woman respectively. They talk about how they met and fell in love in 1945, their
tumultuous courtship and how they've kept their 65-year-old marriage
going.
How did you meet and when did you get married?
Gabriel: We knew each other quite well before we got married on August
5, 1948. I took great pains to let her know I was in love with her then.
She was also in love with me. Luckily, we ended up working in the same
place later on. My employers gave her the chance to join me in the
service because of the likeness they had for me. We worked together in
the same organisation till she retired in 1971.
Florence: We met at Ijebu Ode. He was attending Ijebu Ode Grammar School
at that time, while I attended St. Saviours’ School. Sometimes, we used
to go to his school for sports competitions or other extra-curricular
activities. That was how we met.
Then, he used to visit me at home but my father would drive him away.
Fortunately, we met again when I relocated to Lagos. When we came to
Lagos, he was working at the Government Press; while I was looking for a
job. He was the one who told me to write an application and bring it
there, which I did and I got the job. I was lucky to get my first job
with my husband at Federal Government Press at Broad Street Lagos in
1945. So, our relationship continued until we got married in 1948. I
retired in 1971. We have seven children.
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