Cardenden couple celebrate 60 years of marriage after primary school meeting

Jackie and Betty Johnstone celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary on December 28, having first met more than 70 years before.

Jackie was born in Cardenden in 1942 and grew up in the town, while Betty was born in Crail in 1943.

The couple first met when Betty’s family moved to Cardenden in 1945 and Jackie befriended her brother, Tommy, at primary school, and frequent trips after school to the family farmhouse saw Jackie and Betty introduced.

However, on leaving school and starting work, the couple began to see less of each other – until 1961 when Jackie and Betty bumped into each other in a chance encounter as they both made their way home from work.

The couple would soon start dating, going to the pictures and dancing at the Burma in Kirkcaldy, the Bowhill Ball and the Palais in Cowdenbeath.

They married at St Fothad’s Church in Cardenden on December 28, 1963, having their reception at the Number 1 Goth in Bowhill.

Jackie started his working career as an apprentice as an electrician, joining the National Coal Board, working at Lady Helen Colliery in Dundonald and Kinglassie before ending up at Seafield in Kirkcaldy.

After leaving the NCB, Jackie entered the burgeoning computer industry, working with Elliott’s before it closed in 1972. His experience there would eventually lead to a role as a maintenance technician for Elliott computers around the country, including those operating the tolls on the Forth and Tay Bridges, before retiring in 2007.

Betty worked for J & P Fitzgerald in Kirkcaldy as a clerk book-keeper. She would then follow Jackie to Elliott’s in Glenrothes, where the couple worked swing shifts. She would later go to the Bowhill Institute where she studied computers, including digital photo manipulation.

The couple had two sons Denis, born in 1964, and Colin, born in 1966, and now have four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Jackie and Betty are keen gardeners, with John also keeping his hand in with helping those around him with electrical knowledge. For Betty’s part, she is a regular attendee of the bingo.