KUGLUKTUK/COPPERMINE - Peter and Cecile Kamingoak's love, happiness and long marriage inspires those around them but the secret to their 67-year romance might remain just that - a secret.

Cecile Kamingoak, left, holds her great-granddaughter Tyra Akeeagok, as Peter Kamingoak looks on during her first visit to Kugluktuk recently. The couple just celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary. - photo courtesy of Mila Kamingoak

Family and friends celebrated the couple's 67th wedding anniversary on Oct. 11. Married in 1943, Peter, 87, and Cecile, 88, have 13 children, 42 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

Peter said he never thought his marriage would last so long.

"It felt good. I was happy," he said.

Peter worked for a major oil company in the Mackenzie Delta for 19 years in the 1970s and '80s, at jobs ranging from community liaison to base camp operations foreman. He also hunted and trapped to increase his self-sufficiency.

Annie Kamingoak, the couple's seventh child, said they love each other very much and miss each other when one is away.

"They are very loving parents and most caring parents. They are very fortunate to be married to each other for such a long, long time," she said. "It inspires me tremendously how long they lived together, how many kids they raised. They were very tough parents."

They tease each other and compete against one another when they are playing cards, said Annie.

"My dad always catches my mom cheating sometimes. They just laugh," she said.

Peter said he first met Cecile at school. Annie said her father told her once how pretty he found Cecile to be, and that he fell in love with her when they first met.

The family made supper for them on their wedding anniversary this past October, as they rarely go out now, said Annie. The milestone 50th and 60th anniversaries, and others in between, were celebrated in a more grandiose fashion.

"I'm very proud and we're very proud. They mean so much to us," she said. "We wish them many more years together. They're very well loved from the whole family and well looked after."

Granddaughter Mila Kamingoak, 24, said she was proud and very lucky to have had grandparents for so long. She added their long marriage inspires her.

"They're very lucky to be married that long and live together that long as a couple," she said. "It just inspires me that you can have grandparents that are that old and grow together. I want to be like that, too."

Happiness is what she said she suspects is the secret of their romance.

"They connect very well together and they keep each other company and they just like to be together. I don't think they like to be apart from each other," she said.

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