Southsea childhood sweethearts celebrate 60 years together

Since they were 15 years old, Sheila and Morris Joseph have been a huge part of each other’s lives.
Sheila and Morris (known to as Morrie) Joseph have just celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary. Pictured at home in Southsea, with their card from the Queen. Picture: Chris Moorhouse.Sheila and Morris (known to as Morrie) Joseph have just celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary. Pictured at home in Southsea, with their card from the Queen. Picture: Chris Moorhouse.
Sheila and Morris (known to as Morrie) Joseph have just celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary. Pictured at home in Southsea, with their card from the Queen. Picture: Chris Moorhouse.

And 60 years later, the happy couple are celebrating their diamond anniversary.

Sheila, nee Gale, and Morris, known as Morrie, both attended the youth club at St Luke’s Church, Southsea, and became firm friends.

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‘We both went to Omega Street School so we knew of each other anyway,’ explains Sheila, 79.

Sheila and Morrie on their wedding day.Sheila and Morrie on their wedding day.
Sheila and Morrie on their wedding day.

‘We became friendly and we have been going out since I was 15.’

Sheila says that there wasn’t a grand proposal and their engagement in 1958 was ‘just one of those things’.

She says: ‘Morrie joined the Royal Hampshire Regiment for his national service in May 1959 so I quickly planned our wedding in August.’

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The couple were married on August 1 at St Luke’s Church, Southsea – the same church where they attended youth club all those years before.

Sheila and Morrie pictured at home in Southsea. Picture: Chris Moorhouse.Sheila and Morrie pictured at home in Southsea. Picture: Chris Moorhouse.
Sheila and Morrie pictured at home in Southsea. Picture: Chris Moorhouse.

‘It all just goes into a haze really,’ laughs Sheila.

‘Afterwards, Morrie went to Germany for three months and then the West Indies in 1960 for 13 months.

‘We wrote all the time. There were no mobile phones. We would both write a little bit each night and then send a letter each week.’

While Morrie was away, Sheila worked as a machinist at Guards Factory, Fratton.

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‘Before Morrie’s National Service, he started his apprenticeship as a boiler maker in the dockyard,’ says Sheila.

‘When he came back in March 1961, he re-joined and worked there for 42 years.’

The couple live Southsea together and raised their two sons Nick and Steve there.

‘In the 1970s, I was a cub leader in Southsea and Morrie sang with Portsmouth Chorus for a number of years. We spent many years caravanning, only giving up a couple of years ago after Morrie had two hip replacements,’ explains Sheila.

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The couple celebrated their special milestone with their sons and three grandchildren.

‘The secret to marriage is tolerance,’ she laughs.

‘We just work together. I don’t know where the years have gone.’

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