On Sunday, August 23, 2026, Atherton “Athie” Martin and his wife Fae stood during Mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Chapel in Giraudel while the congregation sang “Happy anniversary to you.”
It was a touching moment for what began with a teenage boy, two unsuspecting dates, and a helpful girl next door, which turned into a marriage spanning over half a century.
Arthie and Fae’s story is not a carefully polished fairy tale. It is a deeply human love story—filled with romance, separation, sacrifice, laughter, forgiveness, and an enduring decision to keep choosing each other.
The couple first met as teenagers after Fae’s family moved next door to Arthie’s childhood home in Dominica. He was about 14 or 15, while she was two years younger.
Arthie readily admits that he was a “troublesome boy” who loved music and attracted the attention of several young women. Their first outing together came after he found himself in an awkward situation: he had arranged to take two different young ladies to the cinema on the same night.
Looking for a way out, he asked Fae’s mother for permission to take her along. Fae agreed to help, and the group went to the Carib Cinema—with one young woman seated on either side and Fae accompanying the young man with a complicated social life.
“She saw my predicament and decided to help,” Arthie said. “And that was the first time we actually went out together.”
It was an unlikely beginning, but somewhere between neighbourhood friendship, youthful adventures and time spent together, affection began to blossom.
The relationship deepened following the tragic Carnival fire in 1963, which claimed the life of Arthie’s eldest brother, Eddie. Fae and her family stood closely beside the Martins during their pain.
“It was a very grief-filled time for me, for my family,” Arthie recalled. “Their family, they were there with us.”
That support allowed Arthie to see his young neighbour differently—not merely as the girl next door, but as someone compassionate, dependable and willing to remain at his side during one of the darkest moments of his life.
Their friendship gradually became courtship and around 1965, they became “boyfriend and girlfriend.”
“It just came naturally,” the couple recalled.
When Fae migrated to the United States in 1967, distance could not extinguish what had developed between them. Arthie proposed, and in a romantic gesture fitting for another era, her engagement ring arrived in New York by mail.
“The ring arrived in the mail, the US Postal Service,” Fae said.
Determined not to allow the woman he loved to slip away, Arthie soon followed her to the United States. They married in 1969, beginning a union that would be tested almost immediately by separation.
The day after their wedding, Arthie left to pursue his university studies. For approximately two years, the newlyweds lived apart before Fae eventually joined him in upstate New York while he attended Cornell University.
There, they finally began building a home together. Fae worked on campus while Arthie studied, and the couple formed friendships that have survived through the decades to this day.
Those were happy years, but their journey would soon take more complicated turns.
After completing his studies, Arthie was presented with the option of returning to the Caribbean or working in Africa. Fae favoured Africa, but Arthie’s heart remained tied to Dominica.
His decision to return home became one of the defining forces in their marriage. While Arthie pursued professional, political and community interests in Dominica, Fae spent extended periods in New York, where their son, and only child, was born.
The distance strained their marriage, and Arthie spoke candidly about his own shortcomings, including relationships with other women that caused Faye considerable pain.
He credits his wife’s remarkable strength, generosity, and capacity for forgiveness with helping their relationship survive.
“She had to have been a supremely strong person to remain engaged with me after all these events,” he acknowledged.
Eventually, the family reunited in the Washington, D.C., area, where they settled in Maryland. Both enjoyed successful careers, purchased a home, and established what Arthie describes as a “second version” of their marriage.
But Dominica continued to call him.
Despite professional opportunities abroad, Arthie never abandoned his desire to return home. Fae did not share the same urgency and initially remained in the United States for about a year after he relocated.
Then Arthie returned for her—this time with a 40-foot container.
He packed their belongings, including their vehicle, and made it clear that the next chapter of their lives would be written together in Dominica.
Their return was not without disagreement, but the couple found renewed purpose through a shared investment project. Planning, negotiating, constructing and building a business gave them a common agenda and required them to spend considerable time working side by side.
Over the years, that shared purpose became one of the anchors of their marriage.
Now, after 57 years, Arthie says he would make the same choice again.
“I would do it again,” he said, explaining that after reflecting on his life and its many possibilities, no other relationship could measure up to the one he shares with Fae.
He describes his wife as strong-minded but exceptionally kind and generous—a woman who gives freely without expecting recognition, compensation or even thanks.
Fae, meanwhile, has learned to live with a husband whose passion for Dominica has influenced nearly every chapter of their lives.
Their marriage has survived because beneath their differences lies a deeper understanding of who they are and what they value.
“The secret of staying married for 57 years is having common ground, but not being afraid of differences,” Arthie said.
They also believe lasting love requires each partner to retain some individuality. Fae gives Arthie room to pursue his interests, and he extends the same freedom to her.
Communication has been another lesson, though Arthie said it does not always mean talking immediately. While he is naturally expressive, Fae sometimes needs more time before discussing an issue.
Through the years, they have learned that patience is part of listening and that love sometimes requires understanding what is being communicated through silence, emotion, and body language.
Their life together has also been filled with laughter. Among the countless memories is a stroll through a park in upstate New York that suddenly became a frantic escape from a cloud of mosquitoes apparently determined to pursue Fae. What was distressing in the moment later became another story they could laugh about together.
That ability to find humor, even in uncomfortable moments, remains part of their bond.
Their advice to younger couples is honest and uncomplicated: spend time together, communicate sincerely, learn to understand each other during both joyful and difficult periods, maintain respect for each other’s individual lives and expect the unexpected.
“Laugh at yourself and laugh with each other,” Arthie advised. “Create a relationship that is large enough to accommodate the good times, but also the tough times.”
Fifty-seven years after a girl next door rescued a troublesome teenage boy from an embarrassing evening at the cinema, Arthie and Fae remain together.
Their love has not endured because the road was always smooth. It has endured because, through distance, disappointments, disagreements, and changing seasons, they continued finding their way home to each other.
