Fifty years ago on July 7, 1951, Richard and Adelle King were married by Reverend Mc Kean at the Greyfriars Church of Scotland on Frederick Street.
A Barbadian who had come to Trinidad in 1943 to seek his fortune, Richard took up residence at a boarding house on Edward Street and it was his landlady's daughter who introduced him to her Trini friend, Adelle Habib. Neither Richard nor Adelle would say that it was a case of love a first sight.
As the very family-oriented couple celebrate fifty years of togetherness with their three beloved children, Hamish, Judy and Colleen and four grandsons, Colin, Marc, Charles and Graham, with very little fanfare, Adelle was sure that the marriage lasted "because I was obedient" while Richard with his quiet smile joined in "I did the work and she did the controlling of the finances. You both have to work together and she controlled better than if I was doing it myself and that is where we are today."
And work they did, at times seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day to make King's Hardware on Western Main Road, St James, the success that it is today.
At the time of their marriage, Adelle was employed with Sprostons and Richard in the Hardware Department of Alstons Limited. But says Richard in still very strong Bajan accents "I had always promised my mother that I would have my own business because of circumstances we had come through in Barbados. After Alstons there were some offers but I decided I would work for myself. I was already married with three children but with the support of Adelle, who was behind me right through, took what was a big step at the time not knowing what I was going into, and succeeded. I do not think we could have survived without the two of us pushing 24 hours a day for it to go up to where it is today." Richard, unhesitatingly, remembered the store's registration date "June 20, 1964, the store opened at 85 Western Main Road (the corner of Vidale Street), with just four persons, myself, Vernon Silva, a part-owner who recently retired after 37 years, Frederick Earl and Thomas."
Says Adelle, who continued to work at Sprostons in the day and manage King's accounts in the afternoons until 1968 when she went to work fulltime in the business "we did not even have a cashier and the money was kept under the counter from where you took the change."
"The first day's sales was $19.00" says Richard with a grin "we could not decide who was going to take this $19,00 to the bank next morning."
As the years went by, 85 Western Main Road became too small for the many expansions which the Kings had in mind, such as, the glass department "you couldn't get that amount of glass in the little space and people would be three and four deep in the old store waiting for glass there was no room for expansion" and son Hamish, who now lives in Florida, was chock full of ideas for a "Do It Yourself King's Hardware". In 1988, a new store was "built from scratch" by the Kings at No 94 Western Main Road, the old one was reluctantly closed and since "it was Hamish's idea to help people do things themselves we let him have full control." Today, youngest daughter Colleen and her husband Robert Krucia manage the "DIY" as it is called by the Kings and the glass department has been expanded to picture framing and more "taking up almost half of the store" says Adelle. Richard and Adelle are proud parents and rightly so, as Judy, the only child who has never been fully employed at Kings, was the first principal appointed to one of the twelve new Government Secondary Schools - the Debe High School - in 2000.
Richard, whose life has been devoted to the store says "I do not think we can complain in life. It was hard work, moving re-adjusting, expanding, looking after staff as everytime we expand you need somebody new and they had to be suitable. I worked relentessly, including Sundays and public holidays, it was my business and I wanted it to succeed."
The Kings were among the first to take up business in St James: "When we went down there was no hardware" says Richard "but I believed in three things provide a good item at a good price with good service and up to today we maintain our service that was built up on that first service. Without service you will not go very far, always satisfy your customers, they come back and you know they were satisfied." Richard's hobby is fishing which he loves with a passion but he also found the time "to serve" as a member of the Port of Spain Central Lions Club from 1966, and help Adelle along "head and head" with her hockey activities.
As a member of the women's hockey executive from 1956, Adelle, has received many awards for her contribution of forty odd years as a sports administrator starting in 1989 with the Humming Bird Medal Silver; last year there was the Millennium Sports Award and induction into the West Indian Tobacco Company's Sports Hall of Fame. She is the only person to have been made an Honorary Life Member of the Men's Hockey Federation, Secondary School's Association and Women's Hockey Association.
Adelle has also served on the St James Citizens Committee "doing things for the citizens of St James to get people to move into St James, there were not many businesses so not many people shopped there. We organised a Children's Carnival, Christmas Party for the under privileged, Hosay, Father's Day, the place started to pick up and grow, it was a deserted area when we went down there, now you cannot get a spot, it is at a premium."