Tauranga couple celebrates 60 years of love

Keith and Gail Malyon fell in love 60 years ago. Photo / George Novak

Keith and Gail Malyon glance at a photograph of their younger selves.

Gail is dressed in a frilled, cream-coloured wedding dress and Keith is in his best suit - their smiles beaming from the frame inside their unit in the Mount RSA village.

"That was a long time ago," Keith said.

Sixty years ago in fact - the day they said "I do".

Keith was 20 and Gail was just 16.

Their family bet the marriage would last just six weeks. But today, the pair celebrates 60 years as husband and wife.

It was 1959 and Keith was back home in Tauranga for Christmas after compulsory military training with the New Zealand Army in Waiouru.

"Me being a flirt I chased him a bit," Gail, 76, said. "It must have been the uniform and the lemon squeezer hat. He was a handsome looking fellow."

When Keith, 80, went back to Waiouru, Gail sent him a letter professing her love for him.

"Three months later, we got married. We only knew each other for six months," Gail said.

"It was her legs," Keith said with a chuckle.

Mini skirts were what all the girls wore back then, Gail confirmed.

Keith and Gail Malyon hold their wedding photo taken 60 years ago. Photo / George Novak

After tying the knot at Tauranga's St Peter's Presbyterian Church, the couple lived together on a caravan on Gail's nana's yard until their first daughter was born.

Gail and Keith then built their own home in Tauranga, where they lived for 13 years and had three more children before moving to Auckland.

The pair returned to Tauranga in 1987 and have since become grandparents to 13 grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren.

"Our lives have always been about family. Our story is pretty boring really," Gail joked. "But we have had each other. We don't do much without each other."

The couple loves to go trout fishing and camping near Lake Rerewhakaaitu and they enjoy a beer together every evening.

But their secret to a long and happy marriage is to love and let go.

"My idea of marriage is when we have an argument, we just go away and cool off and five minutes later we come back as if nothing's happened. We have never had a big argument," Gail said.

"Keith is a great husband. He will do anything for anybody and he looks after me."

That is Keith's motto.

"Just enjoy yourselves and look after one another," he said.

Gail and Keith will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary at the Mount RSA todayand will renew their vows tomorrow among family.

Their daughters will be doing Gail's hair and makeup and have picked out an outfit for her.

Maybe a miniskirt? "Not this time," Gail giggled. But Keith will be in his best suit.