My Account
For 70 years, Ken and Doreen Bridge have never gone to bed without a goodnight kiss.
The couple, who were planning their platinum wedding anniversary with family at Snells Beach on January 27, agree the ritual has been an important part of their long and happy marriage.
“We’ve had a wonderful life together but I think, like most couples, we’ve also had our ups and downs,” Ken says. “A kiss before bedtime means that any misunderstandings that might have arisen during the day are wiped out.
“When we got married, we agreed that Doreen would make all the small decisions and I’d make all the big decisions. For the record, there haven’t been any big decisions yet!”
Ken and Doreen, aged 94 and 90, are both Colonels in the Salvation Army, and also credit their faith in God and each other for their stable life together.
They met in Christchurch, where they worked across the road from one another and attended the same church. Doreen was a seamstress apprentice and Ken was managing a Christian bookshop, having recently returned from serving in the Pacific as a signalman with the Royal NZ Air Force during World War II.
Doreen would go across the road once a week to buy the Women’s Weekly and, also weekly, Ken would send a message boy across the road with a bunch of flowers.
The courtship lasted three years until one night, after an evening out at the movies, they returned to the back of the bookshop to get their bikes and Ken proposed.
“I didn’t believe it at first, but then I realised he meant it,” Doreen says.
A few years into the marriage, Ken felt a strong calling to the ministry. His parents had been officers in the Salvation Army and he was the Army’s bandmaster.
However, Doreen did not immediately agree to the career change (in the Salvation Army one partner cannot commit to the ministry without the support of the other), so it took a couple of years of discussion before they both eventually enrolled at the Theological College in Wellington. After finishing, they spent the next 15 years working at churches around NZ.
This was followed by five years in Johannesburg during the apartheid era.
“It was a very divided country and quite a frightening existence,” Ken recalls. “Our work involved training youth leaders – white, black and coloured, as that is how they were divided up. I was granted a pass into every African township in Pretoria which was quite unusual.”
Two years after returning to New Zealand, Ken was appointed to the Army’s international headquarters in London. While he oversaw the church’s work in 126 countries and assisted in the formation of the International Staff Songsters choir, Doreen worked with the homeless at a halfway house in the East End of London.
Five years later they returned to Wellington, where Ken worked as Chief Secretary, furthering the church’s work in NZ, Fiji and Tonga.
The couple has three children, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
For the past three years they have been residents of Summerset Village, bringing them close to their families in Snells Beach and Dairy Flat.
“We love the village – the staff are wonderful.”
