Our lives are made up of milestones; birth, first steps, birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, the list goes on. One milestone that very few reach takes love and dedication.
Joe and Delores DeMott marked their 70th wedding anniversary on Saturday, February 10. The couple have lived raised a family, and worked together for seven decades, all in the valley. “We were born and raised here and lived here all of our lives,” said Joe. Social protocols were different seven decades ago, so the place to meet members of the opposite sex was dances.
“There were a lot of dances, and boy could she dance, he said.”There were dances all over in the communities, and every Saturday night at the Elks,” he said. He explains there wasn’t really any formal dating. “There used to be loads of single people at those dances at the Elks and the only thing you could do is give her a ride home or say’ ‘see you next Saturday.’”
Joe was busy working all kinds of jobs, mostly in carpentry. “I never had enough time for school I was too busy.” He grew up on a farm in Michichi and he stayed in school until Grade 10, and from there began working and never looked back.
Delores worked at the Bank of Commerce in Drumheller when they met. “We seemed to get along alright,” he chuckles. “Her mother wanted to get rid of some of those daughters she had, so she talked me into taking one of them.”
Sports were also another place to recreate and socialize, and they were involved in curling, hockey and baseball. The couple were married at Knox United Church. He was 24. He worked in Calgary for a short while, building engineered homes, and they moved back to East Coulee in 1958. This was about the time they started in the flooring business.
They had two boys already, Wayne and Jeff, and in 1962, their daughter Karen was born. Their family and business flourished, and eventually, they moved their home into Drumheller. Later they built a new house in North Drum. When asked what the secret of a 70-year marriage is, he said, “My theory wouldn’t be worth a damn.” He does concede, “We didn’t ever seem to have too much of a problem with having a conflict or anything. It is a give-and-take thing. You could be wrong as much as you’re right ”
"I think a lot of people nowadays have so much of everything they don’t really seem to figure out what they want.” He also credits much of his commercial success to the support of his wife.
“There are people that think I were quite successful. Before I got my wife into the business looking after the money side of it, I was just working because it was time to go to work. If it wasn’t for her, we probably wouldn’t have ever done as well as we have.”
