Couple celebrate milestone
Kerikeri couple Ken and Pearl Coatsworth are about to celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary.
Their secret to reaching the special milestone, also known as a blue sapphire anniversary, has been to share everything and to have no secrets.
‘‘We have always done everything together,’’ says Ken.
‘‘We’ve always been great friends and always got on well together.’’
Pearl says she is very thankful, blessed and lucky to have shared life with Ken. The couple met during ballroom dancing classes in England in 1948 and married three years later on July 28, 1951.
It wasn’t love at first sight, however. Pearl says Ken would often hang around the bus stop while she waited for her bus home.
‘‘I always wished he would go because there was a boy on the bus I fancied.
‘‘But Ken was persistent.’’ They are thankful for dancing bringing them together.
Pearl and Ken arrived in New Zealand on Boxing Day, 1985, to visit their only child Denise who had been in the country on a yearlong teaching exchange.
They enjoyed it so much they decided to stay.
Kerikeri became home in 1987 as they moved north from Auckland to manage Hideaway Lodge for Denise and her husband Richard.
After obtaining residency the pair bought Hone Heke Lodge where they spent several years.
Pearl even turned her hand to matchmaking backpackers and was delighted to hear of two couples that are now married because of her handiwork.
The couple have also been heavily involved in rescuing moon bears from Chinese bile farms with the Animals Asia Foundation.
The animals are kept in cages not much bigger than the bears themselves so they can be ‘‘milked’’ for the bile which is used in some traditional medicine practices.
Through banquet dinners, a Kerikeri op shop, street stalls and other fundraising initiatives they were able to place three bears (Keri, Chance and Pearl) in a sanctuary.
Local fundraising to the sum of $38,800 has also paid for a den within a sanctuary to house four bears.
Pearl describes this work as the couple’s greatest achievement during their marriage.