The secret to celebrating 65 years of marital bliss is grounded in tolerance of each other, Donald John Duff and Dr E Marilyn Duff declare. On Sunday, the couple celebrated their 65th anniversary with a blessing inside the Webster Memorial United Church in St Andrew where The Gleaner caught up with them. During an interview with The Gleaner , Marilyn said she believes too Jamaicans are not remaining in love because they are not tolerant of each other in relationships, dating or marriage.
“I see so many people getting married and then giving up. I think both persons have to show much more tolerance for each other,” Marilyn said. Marilyn is also concerned about the fact that too many couples today are choosing not to get married or have children.
“I see so many disrupted family life in Jamaica, and even abroad. I think it’s best people get married and be secured. It’s much better to get married and settle down,” Marilyn told The Gleaner .
Of her marriage to Donald, she said, “For us, the secret to enjoying our 65 years of marriage is tolerance. You just have to be patient and tolerant. As a nurse, I tended to have that attribute and personality, and we just got along.
We were just good friends.” Tolerance is a lesson they both learnt from not being able to have children of their own. “We had a difficulty having children.
We also decided not to adopt, because we were quite active people. We used to do a lot of sailing. I used to do a lot of presidential events .