Having a close and supportive family network is the recipe of Paul and Carole Peters' successful 50 years of marriage. Paul and Carole, who moved to Eltham three years ago, share their story with the Stratford Press.
The couple laugh about how they first met. ``Carole had a girl friend Lona, who had a car and they were just cruising around and picked me and my friend up,'' says Paul, and that's when their relationship started blossoming.
Carole knew from that moment he was the man she wanted to marry.
Paul didn't have his own car then, so he would push his bike to Carole's house, con her dad into letting him have the keys to his car and they would drive to Palmerston North for a coffee.
``They were fun days,'' says Carole.
Paul says it was important to him to have a good relationship with Carole's father and they ended up becoming good friends.
Carole's father was a joiner and the couple got married in a church her father had built and they have since been back to visit it.
``I still remember the wedding day,'' says Paul.
Carole wore a blue suit and around 25 people attended the ceremony at the Anglican church on June 8, 1962. When asked what they most admired about the other, Paul was quick to answer.
``She's a good cook.''
``I am a good cook,'' Carole agrees.
The couple says being friends is what ultimately keeps a marriage strong.
``If something's wrong, you can sit and talk it out. We're there for each other. At the end of the day, no one else wants to know.''
Carole says they have known each other for so long, if Paul forgets what he was going to say, he asks Carole.
``We finish each others' sentence. When he goes to say something, I know what he's going to say.''
The couple have stayed strong through tragic events such as their daughter dying 20 years ago in a motorcycle accident.
``It brings you closer together,'' says Paul.