A Resident’s Love Story

Alf is one of our lovely residents at Valerian Court Care Home. Alf was delighted to talk about he met the love of his life, Wibke in the lead-up to Valentine's Day.

In August 1951 Alf was part of the Forces Post Office, stationed in Kiel, Germany. He was asked to attend a Welcome Event for a Navel Flotilla, during the evening he was encouraged by two junior members of his team to leave and head to the local marketplace to see if there were any local girls they could talk to. They needed Alf to go as he could speak the best German, it was his intention to set them up and then return to his quarters to catch up on paperwork. The trio came across two young women, Alf tried to introduce his comrades using his best German however he was quickly cut off in perfect English by Wibke who made it clear he was the one she was interested in. He didn’t get any paperwork done that evening!

Their relationship quickly blossomed although it was frowned upon by Alf’s seniors, he was after all fraternizing with the enemy!

By November, Alf and Wibke had met up regularly and his demob date was approaching. He told her it would mean the end of their relationship unless they married. The decision was made, on a park bench and Alf spent Christmas with Wibke and her family. He was back in England before the end of the year.

Once back home Alf made the arrangements for Wibke to join him, and with a Marriage Visa firmly in hand the 17-year-old left her family and friends and made her way to join him by train in Didcot.

They married on 5th April 1952 at the Northbourne Church and held their wedding reception in Alf’s parent’s front room, it was a simple but very special day, they made do with the rations they had been able to build up. It was also Wibke’s birthday – a date Alf never dare to forget!

Alf was 21 and Wibke only just 18, they were married for 68 years, having had four daughters and one son, from that chance meeting their family count is now at 50 including all of their grand and great-grandchildren.

Sadly Wibke passed away at the end of 2019 and is very much missed by Alf and their whole family. The memories they shared will live on in their story.

We thank Alf for sharing the special moments of his past, it's clear to see that revisiting those memories meant so much and something Alf is proud to talk about.