Friends and family gathered at Cawston Hall Sunday, May 4 to help Hedy and Alex Munawych celebrate an increasingly rare event these days - a 70th wedding anniversary.
The Keremeos couples’ lengthy life as a married couple was honoured by 80 guests, who came from B.C. and Alberta.
“It was a nice event,” said son Ken, visiting his parents from Las Vegas. “It was an afternoon of congratulations and testimonials, and reminisces.”
Hedy and Alex met on a blind date, - “one of the good ones”, said Hedy - marrying on April 30, 1944 in Edmonton.
“Edmonton was home base for us, until we moved to Keremeos in 1990,” said Hedy. “After two months here, Edmonton was no longer home base anymore.”
Alex worked in the construction industry, developing a reputation for expertise in perma frost construction.
“We lived in the Western Arctic, on Baffin Island, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba,” Hedy recounted, “we lived in B.C. twice.”
“We lived all over Canada,” Alex said, “and we got to know a lot of people.”
Alex retired in 1991 after a lengthy career that included acting as project manager for a number of arctic based building and infrastructure construction projects.
During their time in Edmonton, Hedy hosted the arts and crafts portion of Morning Magazine, a morning news and current events show that aired on CFRN.
“I’m a painter - I’ve always enjoyed it,” she said.
When it comes to the question as to the secret of success the couple has had to surviving married life, each was quick to blame the other.
“Being married to Hedy,” was Alex’s answer to the secret of his married success.
“Having a good husband,” was Hedy’s instant reply.
They credit their two children - a son and a daughter, Ken, who lives in Las Vegas, and Carol, who resides in Naramata - as the highlights of their marriage. Another highlight was the get together held at Cawston Hall on Sunday.
“We’re not party-type people, but that was the best party I’ve ever attended,” said Alex, “surrounded by friends and family.”
“We want to thank everyone that came to celebrate with us. It was a fantastic day. It was just wonderful to see everyone,” said Hedy.