PE couple celebrate 65 years of happiness
AFTER more than six decades of marriage, three children and seven grandchildren, Molly and Brian Paddey say they are happy to just sit at home and watch “a good Afrikaans soapie” or read a book.
The Paddeys, who will celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary on Wednesday with “a few friends over for a cup of tea”, were married on October 4 1952 at the Dutch Reformed Church in Maclear.
Brian, 87, and Molly, 85, first moved to Port Elizabeth in 1984 when Brian was promoted to port manager miles from where they first met in the boarding house they stayed at in the small Eastern Cape village of Maclear.
The couple met in 1951 while Brian was working as a railway clerk and Molly Meyer was a clerk in the local bank. They were married a year later. “Our relationship just developed. When you see someone often enough and you realise they’re special, you want to get to know them and be part of their life,” Molly said.
Brian said that when the “travelling movies” came to town every three months, he would partner with Molly and go with her to see them.
“Somehow we clicked and automatically started going on house visits together, and eventually the village linked us together,” Brian said.
When Brian, who went to school at Queen’s College, received six weeks’ notice to transfer to his hometown of Queenstown, he boldly told Molly he was not leaving without her, and the couple started planning their wedding.
“We asked for her parents’ blessings, which they weren’t very happy about because we’d only really known each other for about a year, and her father grilled me,” Brian said.
Molly, a former pupil at Krugersdorp Technical College, said that when the news broke that she and Brian were getting married, friends and family had asked her if she was sure.
Brian’s friends, meanwhile, told him he was crazy to get married at 22.
Molly had just four weeks to plan the wedding and she only met her in-laws an hour before exchanging vows.
She said that because Maclear had only one dressmaker, who was ill at the time the wedding was being planned, she bought an outfit from the local co-op and Brian bought their wedding bands from the chemist.
The Sunridge Park couple said they enjoyed watching television and reading, while Brian admitted Molly was more sociable than him.
Brian, who took a moment to thank his wife for all she had done for him and their three children, said he would never have been able to achieve all he had in his career had it not been for his strong wife.
“We had to move a lot because in those days, if you wanted a promotion, you had to relocate, and with three children, Molly made it easy. There was a time when we lived in a house without electricity and she never complained,” Brian said.
On giving advice to couples entering marriage, Molly said communication was key in keeping a marriage going.
“Never go to bed after having an argument – talk it out, listen and respect each other,” she said.