Happy couple notches up 65 years
After 65 years of marriage, Noelene and Johnny Raitt still enjoy spending most of their time together.
The couple marked the occasion on August 9. Noelene said they have never been bored of each other.
‘‘We do more or less everything together,’’ she said.
‘‘We’ve always worked together, always gone on holidays together. We just get on fine.’’
Johnny was born in Porirua while Noelene is from Taranaki. Both moved to Plimmerton when they were young. The couple met in Paremata at a dance when Noelene was 18 and Johnny, 21. He was a boilermaker and she worked in her father’s hairdressing shop. They were married in the old Plimmerton church in 1947.
Johnny then took a job as a milkman, starting each day about 3.30am. When they had had enough of the early starts, they bought a dairy in Lower Hutt ‘‘for a change’’, and ran it together for four years.
After they sold the dairy, they ran two other stores, in Otaki Beach and Plimmerton, then a coffee bar on Woodward St in Wellington.
Wanting another change they ran the Toyworld store in Cannons Creek for 10 years and The Express Card shop for four years.
At 85 and 88, the couple are now retired at Kapiti Village. They have three daughters, five grandchildren and 13 greatgrandchildren.
To celebrate the anniversary, there is a small family lunch at Kapiti Village on Saturday.