It’s never easy to date any particular photograph,
but this is the exception to the rule. Today is
8 April 1962 and the occasion is Elijah and May’s
Golden Wedding Day, as they celebrate fifty years
of marriage together. Elijah looks rather
concerned as May wields the knife and cuts a
piece of celebration cake. This picture was taken
by the Author on a Zeiss film camera using flash,
which involved exploding a flashbulb rather than
today’s digital cameras with built-in flash!
Alas, Elijah was to live only for another five
years, passing away on 19 March 1967, in his
93rd year. He is buried in West Runton
churchyard and on his gravestone is the epitaph:

“He built better than he knew.”

Most appropriate for Elijah Abel Gray,
Master Builder!