Pop the cork! Celebrating 50 years
Tim and Sandy Gamble around the time of their 10-year anniversary together in Rocky Mountain National Park – circa 1982.
Tim and Sandy Gamble, Castle Pines residents since 1989, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on January 4 with a very special bottle of wine. Fifty years ago, the young couple, only married a few months, went wine tasting in Napa Valley. “We didn’t have a lot of money in those days but we bought a bottle of wine, a 1967 Sebastiani Cabernet Sauvignon,” Tim shared.
Even though the Gambles had not even celebrated their first anniversary yet, they decided to save the bottle for their 50th wedding anniversary. The bottle has traveled all over the country over the years with their many moves. Sandy chuckled and said, “We actually followed through after all this time.”
On the big day, they popped the cork and sampled the 55-year-old wine. It had a bit of a bite, and the cork was moldy (apparently, that’s normal with aged wine). They let the wine breathe a bit, and Tim and Sandy each enjoyed a glass with some pepperoni pizza, which Sandy exclaimed, “is a forbidden food in our house!” They later continued the celebration by sharing the bottle with their son, Jeremy, and his wife Nikki.
Tim and Sandy met at Arizona State University and their “calamitous dating stories” as Tim put it, are recounted in hilarious detail in a Storyworth book, Funny You Should Ask, Tim recently wrote. On their first date, Tim said Sandy seemed surprised to see him when he arrived to pick her up. “She met more than one Tim that week, and I was the other Tim.”
Despite a move Tim made to California for work, an earthquake that sent Sandy running back to Arizona (she returned eventually), and a postponement of their initial wedding plans, the couple wed in Mexico City in 1973, albeit unexpectedly. Sandy’s father bought the couple one-way tickets and once there said, “If you want to make it back to San Francisco, you two are going to get married!”
Five years later, Sandy asked her father if the marriage in Mexico was legal. Turns out it was because he had officially registered the marriage in Arizona and had held on to the marriage license.
Tim and Sandy said they are trying to offer bits of advice to their newly married son. Their advice includes continuing to work at it, being forgiving and staying humble. Tim and Sandy have had many adventures over the years while supporting each other and “helping each other grow,” Sandy added. Tim remembers meeting Sandy like it was yesterday, laughingly adding, “All we ever did was have a good time. The world’s a lark.”
By Lisa Nicklanovich; photos courtesy of Tim Gamble
