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American Morning

Canadian Couple Proves Marriage Can Last 75 Years

Aired July 05, 2001 - 09:56   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: We all know that a diamond lasts forever, but love has proven time and again to have a much shorter lifespan.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: That's not the case, though, for a couple in Ottawa celebrating 75 years of marital bliss.

Reporter Anna-Karina Tabunar of our affiliate CJOH has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA-KARINA TABUNAR, CJOH REPORTER (voice-over): James and Mildred Hutchins are rather blase about their big anniversary -- 75 years of marriage is really no big deal.

MILDRED HUTCHINS: We are the same as we did when we married.

TABUNAR (on camera): How's that?

M. HUTCHINS: Fine.

TABUNAR (voice-over): She is 95; he is 96. Apart from his failing eyesight and hearing, they have no complaints.

JAMES HUTCHINS: I don't really know. I feel wonderful at 96 -- I have no aches or pains.

TABUNAR: They met back in 1923. He was 18; she was 17. He spotted her singing with the church choir. James says it was love at first sight. Mildred wasn't exactly head over heels.

M. HUTCHINS: He was just another boy.

J. HUTCHINS: Anyway, he says...

TABUNAR: Three years later, they married -- nothing fancy.

M. HUTCHINS: We just took my mother with us, and we had a nice little ceremony, and we were married, and we went to a restaurant after.

TABUNAR: Over the decades, the world has changed all around them, but their old routines have stayed the same. They do everything together. They have never been apart. J. HUTCHINS: When she goes to bed, the first thing she says to me is I love you. Well, I repeat the same thing to her, and that's the way it was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people don't even live to be 75. And I'm just blessed that I have the two of them here.

TABUNAR: When the Hutchinses celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary this weekend, they will celebrate their legacy: two sons, five grandchildren, three great-grandchildren.

They're already looking ahead to yet another milestone: Four more years, and James turns 100.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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