TETLIT'ZHEH/FORT MCPHERSON - Peter Kay begins to tell the story of his wedding day while his wife, Mary, sits next to him, laughing. She's heard this one many times over the past 70 years.

July 10, 1939 brought more rain than Fort McPherson had seen in a month, but the air was warm. Peter, then 23, was inside St. Matthew's Anglican Church with his 19-year-old bride. Their families had arranged the marriage and they were wed alongside two other couples as part of a triple ceremony that carried over into the community hall. Peter danced all night, long after Mary had decided to leave for their new home. When Peter finally tired, he too headed for home – back to his parents' house.

Peter and Mary Kay share a laugh after reminiscing about their wedding day. The couple will celebrate their 70th anniversary in Fort McPherson July 10. - Katie May/NNSL photo

"I forgot I got married I was dancing so long," he laughs now, at 93.

The couple will celebrate their 70th anniversary with a community-wide gathering in Fort McPherson on Friday, bringing together five generations of family, including relatives from the Yukon and Alaska.

"We've got lots of grandchildren," Peter says. "Half the town!"

The couple raised 13 children together, pulling them out of residential school every spring when the ice broke up to learn on the land. Peter was a hunter and a trapper, and Mary often travelled with him on excursions across the Western Arctic, always sure to pack anything they might need.

Their youngest son, Johnny Kay, said his parents are good role models within the community.

"A lot of the time when people need advice they ask my dad," he says, adding that his mother gets invited out on every berry-picking trip because of her valuable quick picking skills and her uncanny ability to pack for every possibility.

"She really comes prepared," he says.

"My dad would go out hunting and my mom would skin the rats," Johnny explains. "They go hand in hand. They're always together, supporting each other."

Although it wasn't his parents' choice to marry each other, Johnny says they still value the vows they made 70 years ago.

"My dad once said even though they had an arranged marriage, he still had his eye on my mom," he laughs. Diane Baxter, Peter and Mary's first grandchild whom they adopted, said they showed that marriage is about sticking by each other through hard times.

"My mom said that when she first married him she didn't love him, but she learned to love him over time," she says. "Everything they did they did together, and any decision they made, it was done together."

Peter says he can't really explain the bond he and Mary share.

"We're happy about it," he says. "We get along OK."