Harry and Irma Dick first met almost 60 years ago when she was visiting Winnipeg with her family from Vancouver. Harry was so smitten, he wrote her a love letter that was waiting for her when she returned to the West Coast. He visited her shortly thereafter, got a job in Vancouver, they fell in love and they have been married for almost 58 years. (Keith Lacey photo)
When Irma Dick was a teenage girl, her parents took her from their Vancouver home to visit relatives in Winnipeg and nothing was ever the same again.
On that family trip, Irma was introduced to a young man named Harry Dick and her life was changed forever.
In early August, Harry and Irma Dick will celebrate their 58th wedding anniversary.
While she got butterflies during that first visit almost 60 years ago, Harry fell head over heels in love, said Irma.
“I liked him and thought he was a nice guy, but it was love at first sight for him,” she said smiling. “We lived on the coast in Vancouver and were visiting relatives on Harry’s mother and brother’s family farm.
“After we met for a few days, I knew I liked him, but I immediately felt this would never work because I lived in Vancouver and he lived in Winnipeg.
“But when I got home after meeting him, I had a letter waiting for me from Harry. I guess you could call it a love letter because he made it very clear how much he liked me.”
After several more letters, Harry planned a trip to visit her in Vancouver and made the long trip by car from Manitoba to the Lower Mainland.
It was during that extended visit that they fell in love, said Irma.
It wasn’t long before Harry eventually moved off the family farm because he was smitten and applied for and accepted a job in Vancouver at B.C. Sugar, where he ended up working for 40 years as a lab technician.
Within months of moving to Vancouver, Harry had proposed marriage to Irma, she accepted and they were married on Aug. 2, 1958.
They spent their entire married life and raised their two children, Curtis, 57, and Carla, 55, in Vancouver.
Harry and Irma decided to move to Osoyoos back in the mid-1990s.
“We chose Osoyoos because we used to vacation there almost every year,” said Irma. “We loved the fruit and the wine and the weather and we both agreed Osoyoos is where we wanted to be when we retired.
“I moved here in 1995 and Harry stayed an extra year in Vancouver because the company he worked for wanted him to stay on. He moved here in 1996 and we have loved living here ever since.”
In August of 2011, Harry was diagnosed with the rare disease called Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) and the neuromuscular disease eventually took away his ability to walk and talk.
Irma took care of him at their Osoyoos home for two years, but doctors decided Harry would need intensive nursing care.
He moved into Mariposa Gardens in Osoyoos in September of 2014 and Irma has visited him for several hours each and every day since.
Every Christmas, Harry and Irma’s two children, four grandchildren and great grandchildren make the trip from the Lower Mainland to visit them in Osoyoos.
They also make regular visits during the warm summer months.
While Harry has lost his ability to speak, his hearing is perfect and he and Irma have found a special way to communicate through eye contact and hand signals and Harry also writes down his thoughts and feelings on an iPad.
You don’t have to spend a lot of time with them to see the love they developed almost six decades ago is as strong as ever.
When asked questions about their long and loving marriage, she looks lovingly into her husband’s eyes and tears up.
“I guess the key to a good marriage is getting along and having things in common,” she said. “We both loved the outdoors and things like hiking and camping. We also loved to travel and we went south every winter to Arizona or California for close to 20 years.
“Every marriage has its ups and downs for sure, but you have to tough it out. Some young people today get married and they’re getting divorced after their first argument. That doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Since being diagnosed with his illness, her husband’s demeanour and personality has never changed, she said.
“He has never complained or said, ‘why me’ once since this happened,” she said. “He accepted it immediately and has never felt sorry for himself.”
The hardest part of dealing with his illness is the fact he can’t enjoy the outdoors and enjoy all Mother Nature has to offer, she said.
“He was a man who was water skiing at age 75 and doing things many men half his age couldn’t do,” she said. “That has been the toughest part. I know there are times when he wishes he could just come home or get outside.”
In retrospect, Irma said she’s very glad that Harry took a shine to her immediately and sent her that love letter close to 60 years ago.
“In all our years together, I can honestly say I don’t think my husband has ever raised his voice or got mad at me,” she said. “They say the opposites attract and I guess it’s true because he has always been the most laid back and easy going man I’ve ever met and I’m sort of high strung.
“He’s never been mad at me, but I know I’ve been mad at him, but it sure doesn’t take me long to forgive him because he’s such a wonderful man.”
Harry, who will soon turn 83, only smiles when asked about his marriage to Irma.
You don’t need to be able to speak to translate the bond between this very special couple.
“The last few years have been difficult since he got sick, but I still have my husband,” she said. “He never complains and we still get to spend a lot of wonderful time together, so I don’t have any complaints.”
The management and staff at Mariposa Gardens are wonderful and go out of their way to make Harry feel right at home, she said.
With Valentine’s Day approaching this coming weekend, Irma says most of her 58 years of marriage felt like Valentine’s Day to her.
“He bought me gifts and cards throughout the year … he didn’t need to do anything special on Valentine’s Day,” she said.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
