Ten children, 39 grandchildren and 45 great-grandchildren _ and it all began with two people.
Turangi couple Cliff and Daphne Marshall, who celebrate 61 years marriage on Saturday, say the secret to a long and happy union is caring for, loving and supporting one another.
The couple, who were in
their teens when they married, wed at Korohe Marae on March 31, 1951. Last year they celebrated their diamond wedding with a huge surprise bash. The pair renewed their vows at Korohe Marae and went on to celebrate at the Tongariro Chartered Club, joined by a 180-strong crowd of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, wider whanau and friends from around New Zealand, Australia and as far afield as Europe.
This year the celebrations are a little quieter, with a family get-together planned, but it also means there's now time to share their story.
The pair met through family connections. Cliff, from Ruatoki, affiliates to Ngai Tuhoe and Daphne, who was born at Waiotaka and grew up at Korohe, also affiliates to Tuhoe and Ngati Tuwharetoa. They got to know each other when Cliff moved to the Turangi area in 1949 to work on the national power grid. He recalls that Daphne was then working at the Bridge Lodge, and he would see her waving to him from the lodge window as he went past on his way to work.
There is some dispute about where they first met properly and who chased whom _ Daphne thinks they might have met at the pictures at Tokaanu _ but there's no doubting that they soon hit it off. Cliff, who was then living with his mother at Waiotaka, used to walk from there to Korohe nearly every night to see his future wife.
They had been going out together for about 15 months when Daphne's father suggested it was about time they made things official.
``We had been going around for a wee while and my father said ``never mind all this mucking around, you may as well get married'', and that's how everything started.''
Cliff and Daphne were married at the marae by Daphne's grandfather, Ratana minister Te Hori Motaranui Hallett in a double wedding which they shared with Daphne's cousin and Cliff's good friend Loney Biddle and his bride. The weddings were followed by a big reception at the marae wharekai.
After their wedding, the pair lived at Korohe, and Cliff became a machine operator for the Ministry of Works. They left the area temporarily after their first child was born and moved to Dargaville where they ran a poultry farm with Cliff's father for two years. They returned to Korohe, and then wound up in Moerangi, near Taumarunui for several years. By then they had bought a section in the fledgling town of Turangi, where Cliff spent the weekends building the family's new house in Aonini Rd, the home they still occupy 44 years later. By the time the family moved in 1968, there were nine children (six daughters and three sons, a seventh daughter was born in 1977) and Cliff was working on the Tongariro Power Scheme. Daphne says those were good years made easier by the fact that their children never gave them anything to worry about.
Now the family, although close, is scattered throughout New Zealand, Australia and Italy, and Daphne and Cliff have done plenty of globetrotting over the years to keep up with them.
However they admit they struggle to keep up with the number of additions.
``Grandchildren _ don't ask me how many because I've lost track of that!,'' Daphne chuckles. ``I look at them and start counting them and lose count and have to start all over again!''
When it comes to their secret for married happiness, Cliff says it's about sticking together and caring for each other in good times and bad.
``You've just got to support one another.''
``We've had our ups and downs but that doesn't mean to say that we've gone our different ways,'' Daphne adds. Has it been a happy marriage? ``We wouldn't be together if it wasn't.''
Their daughter Ducky says her parents are the rocks that anchor the whole family and the example they have set in their marriage has flowed through to their children's relationships.
``Most of us have maintained long relationships _ the oldest sister just celebrated her 42nd wedding anniversary last year and the third sister has had 38 years.''
Ten children, 39 grandchildren and 45 great-grandchildren _ and it all began with two people.
Turangi couple Cliff and Daphne Marshall, who celebrate 61 years marriage on Saturday, say the secret to a long and happy union is caring for, loving and supporting one another.
The couple, who were in
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