Fred and Clara Thomas Fred and Clara Thomas will celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary on August 14 this year. They have been in business together almost as long, owning a string of shops including United Family Shoes, United Protective Security, United Video, and more recently with their son, Marico, Four Star Pizza. They have three other children.

Clara: When I first saw him, it was near Richardson's Restaurant on North Shore. I think I was about 13 or 14 years old. I was waiting for the bus when a young boy came and took my bag with my school books. I was frantic because I couldn't go home without my books. I think I was even shedding a tear. And then along came this young gentleman, and he saw I was a damsel in distress I would imagine. He went and got the bag and gave it back to me.

He used to take the bus and my girlfriends would look out for him and wave. I wasn't interested, but I would go along with them. I was always the shy one. I guess he found out where I lived, and he would come to the house with my cousins. One time when I was expecting them, I went racing to answer it, thinking it was my cousins, but it was Freddie. I asked where my cousins were and he said, `They're not here?' We were like two little frightened chickens.

We sat down on the couch and talked. He's been coming ever since.

On our 25th anniversary, we renewed our vows. We went back to church and had a big celebration. I wore my wedding dress, and all the same bridesmaids who wore their dresses. It really doesn't feel like it's been 35 years now. It's been beautiful, just beautiful, and there's still plenty of spark. It's been sweet and great and I wouldn't have done it any other way.

Fred: Clara and I started to go steady when I was about 15 or 16. During those days, if you wanted to meet a girl, you had to find out what church she was going to. I tend to be very aggressive, and I found out where she lived, and where she went to church. She was always with her two girlfriends and out of the three, I found I was more sensitive to Clara - she was more mature for her age.

In 1957, I asked Clara's mother if I could marry her daughter. We were deeply in love. We got married in 1958. I had promised her I would take her away every year on our anniversary. We've never missed a year. There was one year when money was very tight - I had been boxing a lot - I told Clara to write away to Nassau, Jamaica and Miami, to say I was the middleweight boxing champion and to ask for a challenge. The only condition was that they would pay for the ticket, hotels, and meals. We put her down as my manager C.L.L.

Thomas, so they didn't know she was a woman, and they didn't know she was my wife. They accepted so we got our trip. She ended up getting more attention than I did - we were in the papers every day for five days. I also promised on our third anniversary, that when we had been married for 30 years, I would take her to church in a wheel barrow. She thought I was crazy. But I did it, and I've been doing it every year since.

We've been a team with everything we've done. We've been dancing once or twice a week for 15 years. And we never go to bed without a hug and kiss. It's the same in the morning. Even if we've had a misunderstanding, it's one thing we've always done. I always give her a hug and kiss before I go to sleep and before I leave the house in the morning.

Fred and Clara Thomas: "We've been a team, with everything we've done.'' RG MAGAZINE MAY 1993