Val and Alex Bishop celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary today. Photo / Paul Taylor
Val and Alex Bishop celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary today. Photo / Paul Taylor
Val Bishop says never "going to bed on an argument" is one of the things that has sustained her marriage for 70 years.
on Wednesday, July 15. She was aged 18 and he 23 when they married on July 15, 70 years ago in a large ceremony at Labour Hall inTaradale.
"I wasn't allowed to get married until I was 18. I was 18 on Thursday so I got married on Saturday.
"Everybody thought it'd never last, 'she's too young' [they said] but it's lasted," Val said.
They met at a Taradale School ball just over a year before their wedding and have been together ever since. But they had their eye on each other before then.
As well as not going to bed on an argument, Val said their love for each other has been a big part of their marriage.
"We just fell in love and we still love each other. We've just been really content with each other.
"I remember the minister saying to us, 'there are two words that make a marriage work, and that was to say I'm sorry' - and that's right."
Together the couple enjoy gardening, house sitting, going for drives and visiting family in Auckland.
It's what Val says has been a "simple life" in which they have been "very blessed".
Apart from a short time in Gisborne and Greenmeadows, the couple have lived in their Hastings home since the 1960s, raising three children.
"As long as our family are happy, we are happy. All we ever wanted from this marriage was for our family to be happy."
They celebrated over the past weekend at their daughter's house in Taradale with all 30 members of their family, some of whom had travelled from around the country for the celebration, which was a "beautiful day".
