Fifty years ago newlyweds Tom and Jean Clarke arrived in Bermuda on their honeymoon, following their church wedding on June 29, 1957. She was 19, he was 21, and he had graduated one week earlier from Princeton University.

Neither had been to Bermuda before, but they chose the Island because “Bermuda was heavily promoted, and in those days everybody went to Bermuda,” Mrs. Clarke said.

In fact, the new bride recognised just about every face on the aircraft as a honeymooner because she saw her fellow brides’ pictures in the New York Times wedding section, which she was reading en route.

“Back in those days you sent your wedding photo in six weeks ahead of time, and it was published on your wedding day,” she said.

The couple stayed at The Reefs, which at the time was “very small, with one dining room, and didn’t look like it does now”, and the first piece of advice they got was not to go out in the sun because it was too hot.

“So we went down on the beach for 20 minutes and were very careful. Then we came back in, and we had ‘liquid sunshine’ every day thereafter!” Mrs. Clarke remembered.

Nevertheless, they did their fair share of sightseeing on mopeds whose “tiny motors meant pedalling up the hills” before they ran out of money and left a day earlier than planned.

Since then, the couple have become regular visitors to the Island, returning every year or other year during the late 1960s and 1970s, staying twice at a private home in the ‘60s, and then at Glencoe throughout the ‘70s.

With four children in college, and Mrs. Clarke in graduate school for a time, the family budget did not stretch to holidays in Bermuda from 1978-86, but in 1987 the visits resumed, with stays at Pink Beach and a private apartment in the Tucker’s Town area. There was a further gap following Mr. Clarke’s twin hip replacement operations in 1991, but from the middle ‘90s until today they have returned at least once and often twice a year, staying at Salt Kettle House, where owner Mrs. Hazel Lowe — “a most amazing woman” — has become a very good friend. November is the couple’s preferred month.

“We fell in love with this place, and I always say when I get off the plane that I am already in Bermuda even though I haven’t left the airport yet. Friends say, ‘Why don’t you go to the Bahamas?’ But I say ‘why? We love Bermuda so why go anywhere else?’ Mrs. Clarke related.

The couple have continued to hire separate scooters, and said they never get tired of sightseeing. Indeed, they always discover something new to enjoy on every trip. Advice received on their very first hiring at The Reefs has stood them in perfect stead ever since, and is what they also pass on to others.

“The instructor looked our shiny new wedding rings and told us to ‘keep your wedding ring to the curb and you will never get in trouble’,” Mrs. Clark said.

“That was such wonderful advice. You can go around round-abouts or anything, and so long as you look down and see your ring to the curb you are all right.”

As the marriage progressed, the couple were blessed with five children — four sons and a daughter, the latter of whom, sadly, is deceased.

Following army service, Mr. Clarke entered the construction business and his wife became a stay-at-home mother. While raising their children, the couple remained faithful to her father’s advice — the clergyman who married them — and every year took a holiday on their own.

“My father said, ‘You need to remember that, first of all, you are a couple. If the two of you are all right then everything is going to be all right. You need to go away at least once a year so you can keep remembering that you are a couple,’ and we’ve always done that. Our children were very aware than once a year we went away by ourselves.”

When it came to celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary, however, the rule was happily waived — but not the choice of destination.

“My fantasy has always been to bring the entire family to Bermuda, so eighteen months ago we set it up with Hazel to have all of the rooms at Salt Kettle for ourselves, our four sons, and our grandchildren. That was our present,” Mrs. Clarke said.

Of course, the second honeymooners had a little time to themselves before the family joined them, but once they were all together, it was a non-stop celebration which included a cocktail party hosted by their Bermuda friends, Russ and Daphne Stobo, and attended by Mrs. Lowe, as well as a beautiful dinner in a private dining room at Tom Moore’s.

“We had a wonderful celebration, and it was everything we wanted. The family all had a wonderful time — so much so that we are coming back to Bermuda,” Mrs. Clarke said. “They loved absolutely everything.”

Like all repeat visitors who have been coming back over many years, the Clarkes have noticed a lot of changes to the Island, not all of which are to their liking.

While they still find the people friendly and helpful, they miss the smaller guest accommodations such as Glencoe, Salt Kettle and Pink Beach, and are not impressed with plans to build “yet another five-star hotel”.

They are pleased that the Mid-Ocean Club “looks exactly the same” as when they first saw it, and they would like to see tourism become as big an industry as it once was.

They visited The Reefs for lunch, but could not help noticing how different it is today. In addition to being much larger, the once informal little beach now sports “three rows of chaises with umbrellas, all perfectly lined up facing the ocean”.

They found the traffic “horrendous wherever you go” — so bad, in fact, that they no longer ride into Hamilton because it is so “hair raising”.

“In Hamilton, Bermudians are just as bad as people in New York and New Jersey — far too many cars,” is how they put it.

Overall, the couple agreed that Bermuda has lost some of its “specialness”, and said “Front Street is not pretty any more”.

“The whole area was once so pretty, with a policeman in the bird cage. It was so clean, and we would often go in to look in the windows,” Mrs. Clarke remembered.

“It is a hubbub of activity today. Just not nice any more,” Mr. Clarke added.

Nevertheless, the happy pair said, “We have loved coming to Bermuda for the last 50 years, and have enjoyed meeting so many Bermudians. A special thank-you to photographer Duvon Powell, who captured our anniversary celebration, Mr. Gibbons at Oleander Cycles, Bruno at Tom Moore’s, and especially Hazel Lowe.”

Asked to define the secret of remaining happily married for 50 years, the couple both referred back to the advice Mrs. Clarke’s father had given her on the eve of her wedding: “Once you’re married, don’t think you are coming home again.”

If ever there was a disagreement and Mrs. Clarke said, “Well, I can always go home”, her husband’s response was always: “No, you can’t. Your father said you can’t”.

Having both recognised the wisdom and truth of that advice, they have continued to work out their differences, and remain supportive of each other.

“Tom was totally supportive of what I was doing as a mother, and he was a good hands-on father,” Mrs. Clarke said.

“But I never changed diapers,” her husband confessed.

Mr. Clarke continues to work full time in the construction business, and Mrs. Clarke, although officially retired, does consultant work. They reside in New Bedford, Massachusetts.