Platinum pairing
A man who predicted in 1951 that a teen couple’s marriage would not last was proved wrong when Don and Shirley Fergus celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary, also known as a platinum anniversary.
The pair got to know each other at dances held at the Kapuni Hall in South Taranaki.
In those days, Don would see Shirley cycle past the Kapuni cheese factory where he worked, on her way to Ha¯wera to her job at Hallenstein Brothers.
‘‘I went to a dance at Kapuni Hall with one chap, and I went home with Don, and we’ve been together ever since,’’ she said.
They were married on January
3, 1951, at the Presbyterian church in Manaia, with a reception at the Kapuni Hall. She was 16 and he was 18.
‘‘This old bloke down there reckoned, ‘Those two young buggers won’t be together for five minutes,’’’ Shirley, now 86, said.
After their marriage, Don, now
88, continued working at the cheese factory as the couple’s three daughters, Carol, Joyleen and Diana, arrived.
Life changed after Don offered to help a local woman, a Mrs Gibson, who had been landed with a herd of cows after her son-in-law left his wife and the farm.
Don, who had no experience of farming, would go and help her in the milking shed after he finished at the factory. ‘‘One day she asked me if I enjoyed it,’’ he said.
The Gibsons became like extra parents to the couple. They offered a 39 per cent sharemilking job, letting them pay it off through their wages, and then helped them go to 50:50 a few years later.
‘‘They were wonderful people, Mr and Mrs Gibson. In those days you never called them by their first names,’’ Don said.
‘‘After that was paid, Mr Gibson asked, ‘Would you like to buy the farm?’’’
They did not have the money, but Shirley’s father loaned them 3000 pounds so they could buy it.
The couple worked the farm for 22 years, milking about 120 cows on the 40-hectare property. Money was always tight, and they were careful about spending.
In 1981, their daughter Joyleen died suddenly. Shirley said she could no longer bear to be on the farm, so they sold up. ‘‘Everywhere I went, I saw her face.’’
They shifted to New Plymouth and Don was offered a job as manager of Foodstuffs’ New Plymouth warehouse, a role he held for the next 14 years.
For a long time, Shirley found it difficult to settle down.
‘‘Once I got a job at Ashley’s Shoes, I was right,’’ she said.
The couple, who have five grandchildren and 12 greatgrandchildren, say the secret of their long marriage is that both have been able to give and take.
‘‘It’s not all peaches and cream,’’ Shirley said.
‘‘A man’s got to do most of the taking; you’ve got to do what you’re told,’’ Don said, smiling.
They started their anniversary celebrations on Sunday by going to church, then hosted about 50 people for a lunch at their home, then in the evening took 36 family members out to dinner at Marbles Restaurant in New Plymouth.
The day was even more special because Don has cancer and had been told in February last year that he was unlikely to make Christmas or the anniversary, he said.
‘‘I felt like sending him [the specialist] an invitation for yesterday, but thought that might be a bit cheeky,’’ Shirley said.