Tinus and Pauline Braker discovered a wonderful way to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary–they got married again.
The well-loved couple arrived early Saturday evening at the home of their son Cliff for a small intimate gathering just for immediate family and friends–well over 100 of them.
Relatives from Holland brought a string of Dutch flags and orange balloons to celebrate Tinus’ country of origin.
The surprise addition to the festivities came just prior to Tinus and Pauline entering the guest hall. Pauline was sharing some memories with Ha-shilth-sa when Cliff’s daughter Holly McLaughlin interjected.
“He asked me this morning if I would marry him again,” Pauline said. “I told him I didn’t even have to think about it–I would do it in a minute.”
“That’s good, because you’re going to renew your vows right here tonight,” Holly said.
The plan caught both celebrants off-guard. Assisted by Jane Jones, who served as flower girl at the 1952 wedding, youngest son Colin Braker escorted the surprised couple to sign the huge anniversary photo, which sat on a table outside the packed hall.
Holly then spirited Tinus through the kitchen to the head table while Colin escorted Pauline in an impromptu wedding procession, with Jane scattering flower petals in their path, to the delight of the guests.
Before the head table, “Minister” Ken Watts performed the ceremony. The wedding couple was provided with written cards containing their vows. Tinus repeated his in a near-whisper, while Pauline’s voice cracked with emotion.
And yes, Minister Ken, son of Pauline’s brother, the late George Watts, did deliver that classic invitation: “You may now kiss the bride,” to conclude his service.
Surrounded by dozens of friends and family, it could be hard to imagine that this love-match had such a shy, tentative beginning, but according to Tinus and Pauline, the relationship didn’t start out with a lot of fireworks.
Tinus Braker came to Canada in 1951. The war had been over for six years, and Holland was still recovering. The youngest of six children, he was given the opportunity to emigrate to Canada to work on a farm in Mission, B.C. where many Dutch people had settled earlier in the century.
But according to Cliff, the life of a sponsored farm worker didn’t appeal much to the 21-year-old immigrant.
“He had heard about a place called Port Alberni where there were lots of jobs, so he jumped a ferry and away he went,” Cliff said.
After landing a job at MacMillan Bloedel’s Somass Division, Tinus took up residence at the Greenwood Lodging House, where many of the single mill workers lived. Working at the lodge was a pretty 19-year-old named Pauline Watts, who naturally, attracted a lot of attention.
“I wouldn’t go out with any of them. A girl could get a bad name,” Pauline said. “And then there was this poor little guy on the kitchen step. He could barely speak English. He was very quiet. In fact, I don’t know how we ever got together, he was so quiet.”
“I had a ’39 Ford sedan,” Tinus said. “I asked if she wanted to go to the show. I didn’t even know what show was on.”
The pair made a date. (It was a Red Skelton movie, by the way.)
“After the show, we went out to a drive-in on Beaver Creek Road called the Bright Spot,” Pauline said. “He brought a whole bunch of pictures of his family. So we ordered coffee and a piece of pie and we looked at all the pictures. When I looked at the clock, it was 11 o’clock and I knew I was in trouble.”
Back at home, her parents, Hugh and Grace, took turns dressing down their daughter for being out so late. “And I was 19 years old,” Pauline added.
But the two young lovers persisted.
“My parents didn’t want me to marry him at first,” Pauline said. “But my two grandmothers fell in love with him.”
The next year, they were married at the Dutch Reform church, which was then located at River Road and Beaver Creek.
“The minister came to me the night before we were married. He said, ‘Pauline, I hope you know we don’t believe in divorce here,’” Pauline recalled. “My dad cried all day, giving me away–and he had 12 kids.”
Tinus said his family didn’t react quite as strongly to his marriage.
“Nobody complained,” he said.
“His mother wrote to me once. But it was in Dutch,” Pauline said.
“We bought our first house in 1953,” Tinus said. “For $3,300–five acres on Georgia Road. No running water, no bathroom. We still live there. I just built a better house on it.”
Tinus went into the electrical shop at Somass Division in 1957, and became a journeyman electrician in 1959. He started Braker Electric while still at the mill, doing work on the side until 1978. By then, his lungs could no longer tolerate the cedar dust in the workplace.
“It was hard to quit at the mill, but I had by then built up the business and built up a clientele,” he said.
A year later, MB contracted Braker Electric for two large projects, converting a barge to a floating logging camp, and a major upgrade at the planer mill. Cliff was working at Somass Division at this time.
“He got so busy, he asked me to join him,” Cliff recalled. “So I went to the mill and quit that day. They all said, ‘This is the biggest mistake you could make.’ But a year later, half of the Somass workforce was let go. By then I’d been to school and had my journeyman ticket.”
Over the years, the business grew. When Tinus retired in 1992, Cliff took over the company, which now has branches in Port Alberni and Ucluelet.
Eldest son Hugh, now 59, also worked at the family business for a few years while working towards his law degree. Called to the bar in 1983, he came to specialize in the growing field of aboriginal law, taking on cases of national significance and earning membership in the prestigious Queen’s Council. Last May, he was elected chief councillor of Tseshaht First Nation.
Baby brother Colin, 47, is now director of communications for the First Nations Summit in Vancouver. All told, there are now three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
On Monday, Cliff reported that a total of 116 guests attended Saturday evening’s event, with about 350 members of the public dropping by on Sunday.
“My yard was packed. They just kept coming,” Cliff said. “My mom and dad were so pleased.”
