‘Good mates’ mark diamond wedding
Husband and wife of 60 years Dick and Heather Dodds are the best of friends despite being very different to each other.
He is outgoing and a musician, she is more private and not as talkative, but that did not stop them ‘‘clicking’’ in 1957.
They met properly for the first time at a South Canterbury Car Club event in Timaru, though they knew of each other through friends.
‘‘We just clicked,’’ Heather said, and friendship has been the glue cementing the relationship.
‘‘We enjoy each other’s company. We’ve always been good mates,’’ Heather said.
She was born in Wellington and shifted to Timaru as a 6-yearold, while Dick was born in Waimate but grew up in Timaru.
He said it was customary for blokes to take a flagon of beer and women to turn up with a plate of food at social events and the couple spent many a night with friends partying on riverbanks.
‘‘We played music, sang songs and had a damn good time.’’
At the time he owned a 1951
Vauxhall Velox, which was his pride and joy, but after they decided to get engaged, Dick’s dad suggested he should sell the car to buy a house.
Dick nervously gained permission from Heather’s conservative Methodist parents to marry their daughter.
Tragically three weeks before the wedding, Dick’s brother, Raymond, was killed in a shooting accident when a faulty gun discharged.
‘‘We never filled his spot at the wedding, we left it empty as a mark of respect,’’ Dick said.
The couple, aged 20 and 24 married on October 24, 1959, at the Methodist Church (now used as a funeral chapel) in Banks St.
With the £600 from the sale of Dick’s beloved car they had a deposit for their first home on Wilson St which cost £1800.
Dick worked as a joiner and the couple had four children, two boys and two girls. They now have five granddaughters and two great grandchildren.