Leslie and Evelyn Caldwell celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary

BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN

On Saturday at the Auburn Community Hall, Les and Evelyn Caldwell celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with many of their family members and friends.

 

Evelyn was born Evelyn May Norman at Wingham and District Hospital. She lived with her parents, John and Elda (Ballagh) Norman, on their home farm on RR3, Wingham. 

 

Meanwhile, Leslie Ralph Caldwell was born in Clinton Public Hospital and lived with his parents, Ralph and Gladys (Webster) Caldwell, on their home farm at RR3, Blyth - an Ontario Century Farm.

 

On June 22, 1974, Les and Evelyn were married at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Wingham by Rev. Robert Armstrong. Evelyn’s Maid of Honour was her sister Mary and her bridesmaids were her best friend Darlene (Stamper) Fear, sister-in-law Anne Cottel, cousin Mary Anne (Alton) Lemm - who also served as the soloist for the day - and cousin Ruth Higgins, who served as the flower girl.

 

Les’s brother Wayne was his best man and his ushers were Evelyn’s brothers Wallace and James Norman and David Cottel, Les’s brother-in-law. Allan Cottel, the groom’s nephew, was the ring bearer. 

 

Following a honeymoon to Niagara Falls and Northern Ontario, Les and Evelyn returned to the groom’s farm, Maplehurst Farm, at RR3, Blyth, where they have lived for the past 50 years. While Les has worked as a farmer for his entire life, Evelyn has enjoyed numerous jobs until she earned her personal support worker certification. She would then be employed by Huron County for 20 years until she retired in 2020.

 

Les continues to farm, however, claiming that retirement is “just for old folks”.

 

Les and Evelyn have four children: Ian John, Kristy May, Timothy (Tim) Ralph and Mark Leslie.

 

Ian now farms near Belgrave, where he runs a large feedlot backgrounding cattle and owns a large pig operation near Teeswater. He has four children: Grace, Amy, Garrett and Sadie.

 

Kristy lives in Paris, Ontario and teaches public school. Kristy and Derrick have three boys: Christopher, Elliot and Jacob.
Tim lives in Guelph and worked at the University of Guelph where he does a lot of research at the beef barn at the Elora Research Farm. Tim and Jen have twin daughters, Hannah and Natalie.

 

Mark lives in Seaforth and works as a civil engineer for B.M. Ross and Associates in Goderich. Mark and Sarah have two children, Callie and Ethan.

 

Over the years, Evelyn has remained a “farmer’s daughter” and still enjoys feeding the livestock, including her bunnies. She also enjoys gardening, growing things in her greenhouse and, above all, spending as much time as possible with her grandchildren. Les enjoys doing jigsaw puzzles, reading and running the farm.

 

The anniversary celebration took place at the Auburn Hall 50 years to the day they were married on June 22 from 2-4 p.m., followed by a social gathering of family and friends at Les and Evelyn’s farm, where home-grown beef was served. Everyone in attendance was a special guest.

 

Furthermore, in-laws Anne (Caldwell) and Dave Cottel were also celebrating their 56th wedding anniversary on the same day.