A wall of mementos representing six decades of wedded bliss lined up behind a farming couple from Manaia on Saturday.
Now retired, New Plymouth resident, Gordon and Melba Gibson celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary with 70 guests at the New Plymouth Sportfishing and Underwater Club.
The couple were married at St John's Presbyterian Church in Hawera on May 24, 1950.
As well as Mrs Gibson's wedding dress, the couple still have the docket from where they stayed that evening – 2 1s which included breakfast.
All but one of the wedding party are still alive and were able to share the occasion in New Plymouth.
Now 85 and 79 respectively, Mr and Mrs Gibson look back to the early days of their romance in the rural 1940s South Taranaki.
Mr Gibson is from Kaponga and his bride from Manaia – they met when he played for the pipe band in Auroa while she attended school there.
"We use to go to the same dances, we'd probably known one another for years before we met," he said.
They dairy farmed in Manaia, raising two sons and a daughter, and now have six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
The couple were keen whitebaiters on the Awakino River.
Awarded the OBE, Mr Gibson was deputy chairman for Westgate Transport and served on its board for 26 years.
He also chaired the Taranaki Harbours Board, the Taranaki Port Company establishment unit, was vice-president of Harbour Association of New Zealand, and management committee member of the New Zealand Harbour Industrial Union Of Employers.
Mr Gibson knew what it took to make a good marriage last: "Being good at arguing.
"Actually, I'm waiting to see what you say," he said to his wife.
"We just always try to get along together – give and take both sides," Mrs Gibson said.
The couple received congratulatory cards from Prime Minister John Key, Governor-General Sir Anand Satyanand, and the Queen.
By JARED SMITH - Taranaki Daily News
Last updated 05:00 24/05/2010
