Glasgow couple born in same tenement celebrate 70 years married

“I was on National Service in the Royal Engineers when I proposed to Marion,” explains Dan.

“My army pay was £2 a week. When I came home on embarkation leave, prior to being posted to what was then West Germany, I had a brainwave. I told Marion if we got married while I was on leave, we’d also be entitled to £2 a week marriage allowance.”

He laughs: “She always said I gave her the most romantic proposal a girl had ever received …the chance for more money.”

If ever a love affair was destined to be, it is the romance between Dan Harris and Marion Scullion, who celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary this month.

Born in the same Maryhill tenement, just 15 months apart, they went to Oakbank Primary together, and played in the same local swing park, just off Garscube Road.

Dan’s dad was a lamplighter, and Marion’s dad was a moulder at Singer’s.

During World War Two, Dan was evacuated to Canada for four years, and Marion was evacuated to Aberfoyle.

“When I got back, aged 13, I noticed a sad-looking little girl standing at the next close, and my mum told me that was Marion, who was now 11,” says Dan.

“Her mother had died a few weeks earlier.”

Dan and Marion had their first date at the George Cinema just before Marion’s 16th birthday. Four years later, the couple got married.

“It was an unusual service,” smiles Dan. “We had to apply for a special licence, because of the short timescale as I was home on leave.

“We had to go to see a Sheriff to obtain his approval. We were married two days later, in the Registry Office on March 4, 1953. Only two others were present - my younger brother Billy and Marion’s pal Maisie.”

READ NEXT: 'I never forgot that baby': Moving memories of Glasgow's Rottenrow

Dan adds: “My mother had planned on us having a traditional church wedding, with Marion being beautifully dressed in a white wedding gown. In spite of her deep disappointment, and the short notice she had been given about our wedding, she held a party in her house for us. It went very well, and she forgave me….”

When Marion left the tenement to go to the wedding, she was surprised to see crowds lining the street outside.

“She was a sewing machinist at a factory round the corner, and lots of her colleagues had come out on their lunch break to see her,” smiles Dan. “We felt like royalty. They were all cheering and waving. The pavement was filled with children all waiting for the ‘scramble’ when I threw coins out to them. It was a very memorable occasion.”

Dan spent most of his Army service in West Berlin, about 100 miles behind the Iron Curtain.

“Weekend leave was not available to me - I saw Marion only twice for two weeks during my time in the Army,” he says.

“When I was discharged, we moved into a single end with a shared outside toilet in Maryhill.”

The couple moved to East Kilbride in January 1959 and had two daughters, Eleanor and Doreen. They now have three grandchildren.

Dan and Marion with Eleanor and Doreen (Image: Dan Harris)

Dan worked as a draughtsman with G&J Weir in Cathcart and then joined the National Engineering Laboratory.

“I met Prince Charles during his visit there,” smiles Dan. “And this week, now King Charles and his wife Camilla sent Marion and I are a lovely card for our 70th wedding anniversary.”

He jokes: “I thought he’d remembered meeting me all those years ago, but it was Eleanor who told the Palace on our behalf…”

Dan was made redundant at the age of 59 and worked in maths and computer studies teaching

until he retired 10 years later. Marion worked for a number of East Kilbride companies, before giving up paid employment to volunteer for charities and the Citizens Advice Bureau.

Dan and Marion loved to travel and spent long winter holidays in Portugal and Spain.

“We have made many friends from Europe and North America,” he says.

“People ask us all the time what the secret is for our long marriage. I think we have been fortunate to have had the same interests - dancing, ice skating, tennis, table tennis, and golf.

›

“We had a cabin at the top of a steep hill at Loch Lomond, and walking up there most weekends kept us fit.”

In recent years, Marion has developed dementia and she is now in Westwood House Care Home in East Kilbride.

“The management and staff went out of their way to ensure we would have a happy celebration on our 70th wedding anniversary, and we did,” smiles Dan.

“We have had many glorious years together.”