Investigators charged Ronald Alfred Gates at Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital yesterday. He is there under police guard while being treated for a self-inflicted stab wound. Police expect to take him into custody today.

After responding to a 911 emergency call, police found them in separate rooms of their brick ranch-style home on Swinburne Road where he and his wife Audrey had lived for about 40 years. Paramedics could not revive her.

Shortly after discovering the bodies at about 5.30 p.m., police went door-to-door to assure neighbours it wasn't a home invasion and they had no cause to fear. They haven't said how she was strangled or if they found any weapons.

Nor is there any indication what triggered the incident, which occurred just eight days after the couple celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary.

According to friends from the Wellington Square United Church, where he sang in the choir for several years, there was no apparent sign of distress in their marriage and no change in their lifestyle. They were still attending church regularly and bowling with the Prime Timers League at Burlington Bowl.

"We're all speculating. Was there a physical illness? Was there a mental illness? Nobody knows. We'll have to work our way through this mystery."

Married on Sept. 4, 1951, the couple started dating as teenagers before the Second World War. The romance survived the five years he spent in uniform in Canada and Europe. As a member of the Royal Canadian Signal Corps, he served in England, Italy and Holland as a radio operator intercepting German signals.

He chronicled his war experiences in a self-published book called I Was a Spy of the Airways. Apart from describing secret missions, he revealed details about pub crawls with his army buddies and the young ladies he met overseas. He made it clear, however, Audrey was his only true love and the other relationships were strictly "platonic."

In the book, he described a magical night they spent at the historic Brant Inn while he was on Christmas leave in 1940. She wore an elegant evening gown and he was decked out in his spiffy military blues. They made a dashing couple and turned a lot of heads as they glided around the dance floor.

After the war, he worked in the retailing industry for about 40 years. They had no children and their social life revolved around the church and military-related functions. He organized a series of reunions with his old comrades in Canada and England and the couple attended the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Holland in 1995.

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