Edmund and Virginia Hydes celebrate 60 years of marriage

Celebrating 60 years of marriage is always something special. But what made it even more special was when Edmund Hydes, and his wife, Virginia, celebrated their 60th anniversary at the Canton Restaurant at the strand, they brought their children, grandchildren and grandchildren along too. Oh and don’t forget all the brothers, and uncles and aunts and cousins. They had to book nearly the whole restaurant for the evening, on Monday November 23, and it was a very special evening, in a very special place, and everyone felt very special indeed.

“This celebration is my sixtieth anniversary. I’ve got eight children, 21 grandchildren, and 16 great-grandchildren, and most of them are here tonight,” Mr. Hydes said. “I grew up in West Bay. My mom, Julia Hydes, had five children. I’m the oldest of the five. Two of Mr. Edmund’s brothers, Ray, who is 70 and Lewis, 76 were there too.

“I am 83 years old. I started at sea when I was 15 years old. I sailed around the world and got married at 21. I had a decent life. And that is a blessing, but I have got a bigger blessing when I turned my life over to the Lord for the last 41 and a half years. Instead of drinking the booze, I put my money in my back pockets. So today I can invite my children and grandchildren and their grandchildren, and still have some dollars left. So I am very grateful of my age and I am grateful that they can all come and enjoy it. I am blessed, blessed, blessed.”

Telling his story, and how he began Hydes & Sons Mr. Hydes began:

“I went to sea for eight years with the National Bulk Carriers. After I came back home I got married and I decided that I was going to work for AL Thompson where I worked for about 13 years. Then I went with another company and I was blessed with that one because my life had changed from that, and I started a screen company called Hydes & Sons and all of my children were involved with the company and so I have been very blessed, not only in finance, but in the company itself, and I am very grateful and thankful that I could do that. I would like to say that the best part of my life is when I turned my life over to the Lord which is half of my life and I have been living the Christian life for 41 years. I was wrongly accused of something. And I decided, I said, the Lord said come to him in the time of trouble. So I went and I said Lord forgive me for what I did, and from that day on I have been changed ever since. I would say to anybody, you don’t have to wait till a time of trouble but he said, call on him in a time of trouble. And that’s a good time to call on someone; when you get in trouble isn’t it?”

Sharon Cranston-Page, Mr. Hydes’ daughter, said, “I am the eldest of the eight children. I am the oldest, and I have seven brothers which came after me, and I have four children and nine grandchildren. Edumund’s brother Roy said, “Edmund was a brother and a father to me. You can’t get any better than that.”