Little Waihī's Aileen and Jack Elsworth celebrate 69 years married

Aileen and Jack Elsworth celebrated 69 years of marriage on Tuesday. Photo / Stuart Whitaker

Aileen and Jack Elsworth had been making relish together the day Te Puke Times visited them in Little Waihī.

It's indicative of the way they have lived their lives, and how their marriage has lasted 69 years.

''We do everything together,'' says Aileen. ''We've just made 26 jars of relish. He's slowed down and can't do as much now, but he still comes and sticks his nose in and does a good job.''

Jack and Aileen met when she was 15 and he was 17, but it was at Aileen's cousin's 21st where they had their first date.

''And our first date has been forever and ever,'' says Aileen.

''We've gone from that first date and we've gone right on through the years, ups and downs. Nowadays most people walk away from lots of things, they don't stick it out. It was different in our day, we were sincere and loyal to one another and we enjoyed each other's company from day one. We did different things, but we were always together.''

While the couple have lived in many parts of New Zealand, they have had their bach, which is now their home, at Little Waihī for 45 years.

''We've been all over the country - we've had shops, businesses, been here, there and everywhere - we've been gypsies.''

It was while living in Rotorua they discovered the small coastal settlement they now call home.

Their neighbours offered to take them for a picnic.

''They brought us here and when we came down the hill, we couldn't believe it - we didn't know it existed,'' says Aileen.

''So we brought our caravan over [to the holiday park] and we used to come over here every weekend from Rotorua.''

Aileen always admired the settlement.

''The shop owner took me for a walk around the village and I said 'I'd love one of these old baches'. There were quite a few for sale and in those days they were very cheap, little and old. But it didn't matter, they were lovely.''

Aileen saw one she really liked and, as a surprise, Jack bought it for her as a wedding anniversary gift.

''It's the best thing we ever did. We had our little old bach - and it was our love nest.''

In Rotorua, Aileen was working for a jeweller's shop and Jack for the post office, but they decided to buy their own jewellers in Te Puke.

''We sold a business in Rotorua and a house in Ngongotahā to buy it, but we found a jewellers shop is easy to get in, but very hard to get out - it needs someone specialist to buy it.''

At its height it was very successful and employed seven people, but the mid-1980s recession hit the business hard.

''It knocked a lot of businesses out,'' says Jack.

''Because we were a luxury line people didn't come in the door and we went through quite a sticky time,'' says Aileen. ''We could see no future so we decided we would have a three-month, half-price sale to pay any bills and we could walk out with our heads up - which we did. But we lost over half a million. But that didn't matter because we had the bach and we never owed the bank a cent.''

They decided that they would give up working.

''But we didn't. A friend talked us into going into kiwifruit and I thought 'how low can you go?' But we went for years. We loved it. Our bosses became our friends and are still good friends.''

Now Aileen is nearly 90 and Jack is in poor health and is close to 92, and they have both slowed down a lot in the last six months.

Jack would always have a magnificent vegetable garden, but couldn't manage it this year.
Aileen stepped in but says she won't be able to do it again.

''I did it for him - I knew he would be upset if he couldn't pick things out and give them to the neighbours.''

They now spend a great deal of their time in their porch that looks out on to the Little Waihi estuary.

''We talk, we sit here at night and we reminisce. But we've had an exciting life and we are just thankful for the time we've had.''

Aileen and Jack celebrated their anniversary on Tuesday.