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2 â€" THE COLBORNE CHRONICLE â€" Thursday, February 21, 2008 www.northumberlandtoday.com : Local News > ‘ 4 70 I T o 3P ; Darkes â€" a golden couple IF _ e They‘re known throughout the community as Jean and Harry. | 4 M . ontd x> t : ; fip.. é Harry â€" and this weekend they‘re celebrating their 50th. Harry remembers they didn‘t date. He worked long hours _ | " ksm 4 on / t \ * Wiiea anniversary. and Jean had to help clean up at the end of her shift. They‘d . | u’ M l \ e § ~W Jean Osborne and Harry Darke met up in Arnstein, _ walk over to her family‘s farm and play cards. That was the | & Srag y# e @0 5in ; aul north of Huntsville 52 years ago. Sometimes in life we run _ beginning of a long and fulfilling life together â€" one that has & m J _ into stories where we have to shake our heads and admit â€" both of them now feeling blessed with the happiness it has "IN||\ l i C k they are defined by fate. How else can one explain how a â€" brought them. P | & * 4 1 farm boy from Shiloh met a girl from Golden Valley? Jean says she would live almost every minute of her | \ * ko ; "L j l Back in the 1950s Harry‘s mom Ruth took a job off the . married life over again, it‘s been that good. The one period |, » * ~<< Ti s::. 9t | _ farm housekeeping at the White House in Brighton. They _ she would never reâ€"live is the death of their firstâ€"born child â€"| . allp . her is wA uy‘ P4 were surveying for the new Highway 401. There was lots of _ hours after he was born, an event that still haunts her. . 4 ;'» "W 2 1 hhd I . . k q work around. Ruth got to know some of the surveyors. For The decision to follow Harry south at age 17 wasn‘t |||â€" | / PW ~@ 4 "\ f | young Harry, working on the farm, it was his in. difficult and her family supported it. Jean remembers those |||â€" " ) l i ts *3 #dl) .. With a twinkle in his eye he tells of his threeâ€"day career _ early days. They had nothing. Every day they would get up ?wflv 4T /‘ x Y e w , Mik in high school. He actually attended the first day, but the _ and milk 33 cattle and be on the bus at 8 a.m. She finished _ d * . o o ol > h\ _ ‘A teachers kept telling him what to do. The next two days he _ elementary school but that was it. Her mom, Edna, was ill. W AFPM *A m!- . W Pri _ spent in the pool hall, and might have continued except his _ Jean had to care for the five younger ones. $ Q« o ikeke. . ~ M bulen . dad found out and brought him back to the farm. In the winter her qaq, George, walked to the | M s S us mt o . o ma In his own defence, Harry recalls there was lots of farmâ€" â€" neighbouring mill and worked for 2 dollar a day. He would | frcld "”‘h | o **~. % K related work with reasonable wages. And then, of course, he _ carry 100â€"pound sacks of flour home on his shoulders. They | . A y "C" pe | ’ landed the job on the highway. When the surveying ended . never starved. They ate pork and chickens and a lot of @' AS hn o C ° m V’r" melllt . in this area he was kept on to help survey the pipeline venison. The kids helped skin the deer. Some was canned, [WM As t * o . ) C veati o ‘ between Port Credit and Sarnia. He must have been a good _ some was salted down, and some hung in the ice house until | * h 44"\ . P 4 $ worker. They kept him on and his next job took him to . the ice ran out. Her mom washed clothes in a wringer _ _ . 4 ht ® y survey the already existing Highway 522 â€" near Golden â€" washer. Je $ t\ S boatl Yos. o Valley.â€" The chance to go south and eventually marry Harry was d J Dark thess bâ€"lbosorry For her par,t 16â€"yearâ€"old Jean Osborne and her sister _ a way to escape. Jean fell for the easyâ€"Eoing southern boy Harry and Jean Darke Fern (Day) were doing everything they could to help their _ who was six years her senjor. In Harry she saw hope for a Jean and Fern landed in Colborne and worked for Alfred parents survive on a 200â€"acre subsistence farm that better future. Looking back there is no doubt in her mind _ and Gladys Dove at Dove‘s Restaurant in the Victoria Opéra supported seven kids. They two girls were the oldest in the . she was right. He was her first love and her last. As for â€" House. Fern cooked, Jean waited tables. They lived on the family. The hotel in nearby Arnstein needed help. Fern . Harry, he knew he had the perfect companion. His friends . second floor. cooked, and Jean waited tables â€" where she met funâ€"loving . knew he had a great gir] up nortâ€" Harry was back home. This time he was working on o rrrmmmmmes,,______.â€"â€"â€"â€" the actual construction of the 401. On February 22, 1958 24282 on# a9eg 183 99 peuobs 3 s u: they were married at Jean‘s home in Golden Valley. $ 03;5,aégg%g%§§§>g%§wggaggggggmggfigégH; Harry‘s parents and Jean‘s family were the only Pi4gf5g 35:9; $ g.;;fi asg4 5 R« o ggfl‘afim g £ 3 5.32 E.x guests. They honeymooned for two days in North Bay ;(;E g‘g‘, g %:1-3"355‘“ 5 gg&§§:§§E<a§52§a ig%gig; tzzmd Sudbury, before settling in Shiloh on the Darke $2s8 "yB o 5 9 m c 4 4¢sse B8 Sxgoe! arm. 3 gig‘s QE'E% %"'E;E,(,%g SS 255 E"%Eéca%gé o4asss 3 They weren‘t settled long before Jean had one of the EBsk 4B§@rrasrids§"®"E2c8o §he8B= B ie g5 biggest shocks in her life. The northern girl was g287 & § 5$ Lr. 28352888 2 §08f 28 8 ie § o | unfamiliar with the shivaree. She found out quickly g§gT"B 2 Ec*m 383 64B3 gesesss n.é Ef§zerqs § . enough when Stu Oliver led a gang of others up the ® 2498 onELRLETLIFrsS £SEfLf,.fanEs ooo be stairs to their bedroom under cover of a smoking egbl §§8.5g 26 23 E;;%E L829 gBs¢3iB8f$B®3E chainsaw. Fifty years later one can still sense the 5 ho g‘;g‘-‘Z2â€";_‘;»gggggma'ggfigw%wggngg;g panic she felt then. p 4 L 4e ~ PSsitt ggUS'a gopss m6 $ m'fi Fis}98 kss Harry knew of the practice but hadn‘t told his new 38 & »Eagga 5 5 ®a glagg seErusg£9@gE9ed¢2 bride. His dad, Robert, stayed up late that night â€" he 52g8 Ty3i8â€"6 ESL§ §@Â¥Tis “’":g"g‘c’ 25 o § %.U $3 °25 knew what was coming. Then to add insult to injury, abs PeopC"as@bafatescCfaisB4fer:‘yess while everyone was out at Dundonald celebrating the gas siRsziee fGirerliracasiâ€" §1092895 excitement, a few slipped back, hung Jean‘s %e’*‘% g_fi"é‘-gfi & 5 rg ’S-%'é gfiga’.%%'g $ g:afigg g 8 8 undergarments from a stove pipe hole, and hid the bed ‘spgZlpe o8 m & &2Â¥ o med® 6 oR in a shed. _‘ | Eig’ g ;5 S EQEE 5; 3/ % a% gé'E:SEa EU%EQE Two years after they were married the young ©Ba $ia9l¢=fe B8R yedacdsg2s 5g8 3 & § 8 couple shared the joy of the birth in Campbellford § §8 ; . 5 3 p ?g ga gses $a3gs" & &5 §8 TA §3 Hospital of their daughter Diane (Chapman). The work g &1R £3zRB ga ?‘3 §3 ES fisg2ia2tct 2 gjg,;:: on this section of the 401 was done. Harry had work in ) 9 Qg"‘ ggaggggg Ega o%figag’régi‘ S‘E:-'%mm:? $ Brampton,s_oofftheywent.Thefamllywascomplete 9 m»;/g?; Sha455BFh ap» S§ABHCPRALb 008 84 o with the arrival of Dennis. R c â€"