Sascha Wil­son

Se­nior Re­porter

sascha.wil­son@guardian.co.tt

“I feel I could go an­oth­er 70 years,” laughed Nor­ma Hart as she and her hus­band, Lloyd Hart, cel­e­brat­ed sev­en decades of mar­riage. Their plat­inum an­niver­sary was marked on No­vem­ber 2 at the Re­vival Time As­sem­bly at King’s Wharf, San Fer­nan­do, where Mr Hart once served as se­nior pas­tor for 30 years.

Sur­round­ed by fam­i­ly and friends, a spe­cial ser­vice was held for the cou­ple, who got mar­ried in 1955 — a union that has stood the test of time through faith, per­se­ver­ance, and love.

“It has been 70 good years,” said 91-year-old Hart as he em­braced his wife. Though he ac­knowl­edged that no mar­riage is per­fect, the cou­ple cred­its their long, bliss­ful re­la­tion­ship to their un­wa­ver­ing faith in God.

“We had our ups and downs be­fore I be­came a be­liev­er in the Lord Je­sus Christ. Un­for­tu­nate­ly, I start­ed off drink­ing very ear­ly, and I stopped when Je­sus Christ en­tered my life,” he shared. He was about 20 or 21 when they met, and in less than two years they were mar­ried and rais­ing five chil­dren.

From that union came 19 grand­chil­dren and 19 great-grand­chil­dren.

Re­call­ing their first en­counter, Hart said with a grin, “I was on my way to vis­it a cousin when I saw her walk­ing in Princes Town. She was in a pair of shorts, and I just loved her legs. I said, ‘I’ve got to meet this girl’.”

But it turned out her legs weren’t the on­ly thing he liked about her. “We found out that we liked the same thing. She liked writ­ing po­ems, and we used to meet at the San Fer­nan­do jet­ty and just share with each oth­er, talk with each oth­er about writ­ing, and then things start­ed to hap­pen.”

Hart ad­mit­ted that ear­ly in their mar­riage, his drink­ing had strained their re­la­tion­ship. How­ev­er, he be­lieves his wife’s stead­fast faith saved their mar­riage.

“I lis­tened to my wife. I lis­tened to her be­cause she trusts God. She be­lieves in God. She reads His word, she spends time in prayer, and she hears from God. That’s why I lis­ten to her, be­cause I be­lieve she hears from God — and that’s the im­por­tant thing.”

In 1973, Hart joined the Re­vival Time As­sem­bly, be­com­ing an as­so­ciate pas­tor be­fore even­tu­al­ly serv­ing as se­nior pas­tor.

Smil­ing as she nudged her hus­band play­ful­ly, Nor­ma, a for­mer pri­ma­ry school prin­ci­pal, said, “We got along very well. Un­der­stand­ing was the im­por­tant thing — un­der­stand­ing each oth­er. I would say when you put every­thing in the hands of the Lord, He works out every sin­gle thing for you. I trust­ed him be­cause he trust­ed in the Lord.”

Hart al­so re­called what he de­scribed as a dark pe­ri­od in their lives — the loss of their ba­by in 1958. De­spite that heart­break, their faith re­mained strong, and they con­tin­ued build­ing a life root­ed in love and prayer.

Af­ter decades of prayers, laugh­ter, and mem­o­ries, the cou­ple re­newed their vows in 2023, cel­e­brat­ing once again the strength of their bond.

They have en­cour­aged younger gen­er­a­tions to put their faith in God. “Fol­low the gospel of Je­sus Christ,” Hart said, adding, “Lives could be changed, their lives could be trans­formed by the pow­er of God, by the pow­er of the gospel.”

On No­vem­ber 3, Min­is­ter of the Peo­ple, So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices, Van­dana Mo­hit, sent a heart­felt let­ter along with a bou­quet of flow­ers, con­grat­u­lat­ing the Harts on their mile­stone an­niver­sary.