Henrietta Bascombe knocked on James Bean’s door only days after his wife Pamela was buried.

Six years later, they were hitched.

She hadn’t been looking for a husband; the Salvation Army had sent her as a member of the West End Community Church, to minister the Sandys resident through his grief.

“The ministers were away so they sent Henrietta to make a pastoral visit,” said Mr Bean, a member of the Cedar Hill Citadel congregation. “She’d lost her spouse the year before.”

After the visit, the 62-year-old left her number in case he needed to talk more.

“I didn’t pay much attention to it,” he said. “But a few months later, I suddenly remembered the number. I called her and we chatted for a bit.

“We started talking to each other on the phone regularly. Three months later I asked her out.”

They were married on July 12, 2003 at the North Street Citadel in Pembroke.

“All our friends and family were in attendance,” Mr Bean said. “My wife is very supportive and very loving. She will do whatever she has to do to keep me happy. After my first wife died I certainly never expected to remarry, but God has a way of surprising you.”

The 73-year-old still works, although he retired as a full-time plumber eight years ago.

“As soon as I retired people started calling me to do jobs,” he laughed. “So I started working on my own. Retirement sounds good until the bills start rolling in.

“My wife would say what I like to do is work.”

He makes a point of keeping Wednesdays free when his wife is off from her job at the Harvey Road, Paget retailer, Furniture Walk.

“I don’t have any projects on that day,” he said. “I like to spend the day ferrying her around.”

Mr Bean grew up on Ord Road in Paget, the second of five children. His father, Charles Bean, was a groundskeeper for a private home; his mother, Annis, was a maid.

When he was 16 the family moved to Cedar Hill, Warwick. He and his siblings were sent to Sunday School at the Salvation Army there.

“In those days you didn’t get to say whether you wanted to go, you just went,” he said. “At that time, many young people went to church. You got to know people.”

It was there that he was taught how to play the euphonium and fell in love with musical instruments. Soon after, he joined the Cedar Hill Citadel Band and the Salvation Army Bermuda Divisional Band; he thinks he may be the oldest member.

“I had never seen [the euphonium] before,” he said. “It didn’t take me long to figure it out. Once you get the scales, then it comes almost naturally sometimes.”

A few years later he switched to the tuba.

“I’ve been playing it now for 50 years,” he said. “Now it’s getting a bit big for me. It weighs 50lb. Later on I might switch to something lighter.

“What I like about music is that it is a universal language. It makes me feel proud to be able to play. It blesses other people when you play.”

He’s proud that his son, Jamel, has followed in his footsteps.

“He plays the euphonium and is bandmaster at the North Street Citadel in Hamilton,” said Mr Bean.

“When he was little I taught him how to play music, now he can play much better than me. I felt very proud when he became bandmaster.

“I think in my life I am most proud to see my son grown up and still serving God.”

•Lifestyle profiles senior citizens in the community every Tuesday. To suggest an outstanding senior contact Jessie Moniz Hardy: 278-0150 or jmhardy@royalgazette.com. Have on hand the senior’s full name, contact details and the reason you are suggesting them