Bill and Dell Johnson have been side-by-side through life's ups and downs ever since wedding bells rang in 1937.

Sparks flew the year before, when the soon-to-be couple was introduced by Bill's cousin.

“He was handsome,” Dell says with a chuckle.

But Bill’s version of how they became an item is a little different.

"She grabbed me by the neck and boy I had to go,” he says. “She was a beautiful woman in those days and she still is."

The Johnsons moved from Kentville to Halifax, where Bill was a dockyard worker and Dell a homemaker to their children.

"Set a great example for all of us. My brother, my sister and myself," says the Johnsons' daughter, Carol Faith Amirault.

 "I'm just so proud of them I can't explain it,” says Dell. “I'm just so happy and they are good kids."

The Johnsons also have six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Bill just celebrated his 101st birthday and Dell will turn 98 in December. Bill's memory isn't perfect, but he still remembers how to act like a gentleman.

"They go to the dining room, my dad still pulls the chair out for my mom to sit down. The staff are amazed at the way he treats her,” says Amirault.

And as it turns out, there's no real secret to their longevity.

"I guess we just agreed and got along good," says Dell.

“She'd do anything for me and I'd do anything for her. And I can't find a prettier woman," says Bill.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Jayson Baxter.