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Couple’s love blossomed at first sight

Fifty-year-old Trail resident Tim Pretty laughs as he recalls falling head over heels for his true love.
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On Valentine’s Day

Fifty-year-old Tim Pretty laughs as he recalls falling head over heels for his true love.

The Trail resident first saw his future wife Deb, 55, on public transit and after heavy eyes in her direction, arrived at his stop and gracefully fell off the bus.

“Somebody told me up there that she was the one,” he says now from the couple’s Trail apartment.

The inseparable pair has now spent the last eight years married and look forward to a lifetime together. While the helpless romantic has indulged in lavish dinners in the past, Tim and Deb plan on staying in this Valentine’s Day, ordering pizza and enjoying each other’s company.

“That’s what Valentine’s Day is all about, it means being with your true love, being happy together and sharing your life together,” said Tim.

After their first encounter on the bus, Tim and Deb met at the Trail Association for Community Living (TACL) office, an organization that provides support to individuals with developmental disabilities and their families.

“They have a lot of challenges but they do a lot on their own and have to work extra hard at things and they’ve overcome a lot of stuff,” said Jessica DeGeorgio, a TACL community support worker, who has worked with the pair for about seven months.

“I haven’t known them for a real long time but it seems that they love each other just as much as when they first met – they’re like teenagers and sometimes it seems like they’re still in the honeymoon stage.”

If you ask Deb, it’s Tim’s “blue eyes, gentle spirit and voice like Elvis” that stole her heart.

After dating for a year, the couple married Aug. 23 2003 at the Trail Legion hall, where over 200 family members and friends got together to celebrate their big day.

Marriage isn’t always roses, but the pair has a bond that has kept their relationship strong over the years.

“We stay happy together even though sometimes we argue, but that’s normal,” said Tim.

“She’s not only my wife, she’s both my special friend.”