The couple met when she was 14 and he was nearly 18, and an apprentice at William Asquith in Highroad Well, Halifax.
He said: "I took her out a few times but then I told her she was too young and to go and play with her dolls."
The pair both got engaged to other partners and then Mr Sunderland was called up during World War Two.
He served in Egypt for three years and when he returned home his fiancee had married someone else.
So he asked a friend to take him out to meet some girls. "My mate was a good dancer and he saw Little Mary, as everybody called her, on the dancefloor", said Mr Sunderland.
"She recognised me straight away. I asked if I could walk her home but she wouldn't let me.
"I arranged to meet her the following day and that was it."
Mrs Sunderland had also broken up with her fiance, and six months later they were married.
The couple, of Haugh Shaw Road, Halifax, have three children – Donald, Richard and Christina – and three grandchildren – Aryton, Amy and Lewis. They celebrated their diamond anniversary with a blessing and a party at Pellon Manor Care Home, Pellon Lane, Halifax, where Mrs Sunderland recently became a resident.