Peter and Elsie Lovell, of Taradale, are celebrating 74 years of marriage. Photo / Paul Taylor
Peter and Elsie Lovell have been married for 74 years and are determined to make up for lost time together.
The English couple met at a dance and married in 1940. However, Peter, a soldier, was soon sent to Egypt, the first of several postings that kept them apart.
"They
spent a lot of time apart, until he retired from the army in 1960," said daughter Sylvia Brown.
The former warrant officer saw an advertisement for a motor mechanics job in Wairoa. "He met a lot of New Zealanders in the army and got to know them, and learn about, New Zealand," she said. With 20-year-old Sylvia they emigrated in 1965.
Mrs Lovell also worked in Wairoa.
