Herbert and Lucille Watkin - Claudine Housen photo

BY Claudine Housen, Staff Reporter

WESTERN BUREAU:

Married for 56 years, Herbert and Lucille Watkin are living proof that a family that prays together, stays together.

"I think it was just the will of the Lord because I was not a fussy person," said Mrs. Watkin.

A retired member of the Royal Air Force, Mr. Watkin, a God-fearing young man, met his wife, also a Christian, at a gathering in Adelphi, St. James. He was so taken by her that he asked her out on a date almost immediately after meeting her.

"We went to Brown's Town on Sudbury Church trip that was the first date," he said with a gleam in his eye.

"On the first day I saw her I told her that I liked her. I found in her what I was looking for. I noticed how she carried herself and how whatever she is doing she always did it well."

He added: "I asked her if she would marry me about a month after that (meeting her). She consented, her parents consented, my parents consented, and so we were very happy, I proposed at Sudbury Baptist Church, in St. James. I remember the very song that was sung Onward Christian Soldiers".

"I got married at 21. It was at the Calvary Baptist Church with Reverend Helwig. I was not the fussy type. I just relaxed," recalled Mrs. Watkins of her wedding day.

"The dress was pretty with a nice headpiece, in those days you had an orange blossom with the headpiece."

Today, the Watkins who are members of the Sudbury Baptist Church are still firm believers in Christ. In fact, the couple recently received a Doctor of Humanity Degree from Emmanuel Baptist University of North Carolina in the United States of America, for service to the church and community.

When asked what has kept them together and happy so long, Mrs. Watkin replied: "Whatever we do we just have God with us all the time and we live loving."

"We never quarrelled or fought. There might have been one word or two but that passed," she added. "It is almost as if the both of us have the same mind, because if he is in Kingston and make a decision you come to me now the answer that I would give you is the same thing. Whatever we do we just put it to God first and do it His way."

The Watkins were joined in marriage in 1951; their union produced seven children, 21 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren.

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