Fareham couple prove there's such a thing as soulmates on diamond anniversary

Despite growing up in different countries, the couple met at the Savoy Ballroom, Southsea, when they were teenagers. They have spent 60 years by each other’s side and Sam says he wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Sam, 82, smiles and says: ‘I think it’s terrific we have been married for so long. It has kept us both young.’

Sam, from Portadown, Northern Ireland, joined the Royal Navy in 1956. After spending 18 months in the Far East, he was drafted to HMS Sultan, Gosport, for an engineering course in January 1959.

While Sam was in Northern Ireland, Rita grew up at Hambledon and attended Purbrook Grammar School.

‘When I came back in 1959, the go-to thing for young people in those days was dancing. So we did,’ says Sam.

‘While I was in the Far East I saved up to buy myself a lovely motorbike.

‘Back in Portsmouth I was dancing with this lovely girl, talking about my motorbike and that I needed insurance. I could have bit my tongue off because who wants to hear about that?

‘But actually she said she worked in an insurers’ in North End.

‘We got on like a house on fire and we got married about a year later.’

Sam and Rita (née Wallace) married on March 12, 1960, at Hambledon Church.

Sam explains: ‘We moved to married quarters in Rowner, Gosport, before we moved to Rosyth, Scotland.

‘We liked it there. We were close to Northern Ireland so we could go and see my mother.

‘After that we came back down south before I was posted on HMS Victorious in 1964 for 14 months.’

The Edgars had their two boys, Paul and Barry, in the early 1960s and their daughter Maddie came along in 1972. Sam says: ‘We live in Fareham now and have lived here for 45 years.

‘I retired in November 1987.

‘Rita still works two mornings a week doing the accounts for a local business. She did a maths degree while I was working in the navy – she’s a bright girl.’

Without Rita, Sam believes he would never have had such a fulfilling career in the navy.

‘I joined the navy as a stoker and reached the rank of an officer, it was a long way up. But it would never have been possible without her support,’ he says. ‘I know I have got someone special.’

To celebrate their milestone anniversary, Rita and Sam enjoyed a special lunch with Rita’s siblings before going back to Hambledon Church to recreate their wedding pictures.

They also enjoyed another get-together with their family and friends.