Photo: Sharyn Smart
For Rex and Fay Walker it was love at first sight.
Still deeply in love the New Plymouth couple celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary at a party with family and friends last week.
“I think we admired one another right from the start,” Mr Walker said looking at his wife for confirmation.
“Right from the beginning,” Mrs Walker (nee Sattler) said.
“It was pretty quick. The connection was there straight away,” Mr Walker said.
The couple speak as they treat life – with deep respect for each other and genuine love.
They first met at a dance held in the Inglewood Trade Hall during the square dance era.
Mrs Walker was a fantastic dancer and very much in demand while Mr Walker was not.
“Rex had never danced in his life before but proved a quick learner. He was special I thought,” Mrs Walker said.
Married in the Inglewood Presbyterian Church on October 3 the couple ran the family farm at Lepperton where they raised their four children.
They retired to New Plymouth nine years ago and now enjoy spending time with their eight grandchildren.
Mrs Walker says it’s important to “cherish” each other and that’s a word that involves a lot of thinking – to ensure a successful marriage.
“We had our own interests and were interested in each others,” she said.
Mr Walker said communication is the key to a successful marriage.
“I think that a big thing in life is to be able to communicate with people. If you can talk to people about the good and the bad – whatever you are discussing – if you can communicate you are away laughing,” he said.
Over the years it hasn’t all been plain sailing with the couple saying there has been a lot of give and take.
“Take the good with bad when you have to and work your way through it,” Mr Walker said.
“It’s important to let each other be themselves,” Mrs Walker said.
This article was published in the North Taranaki Midweek on Wednesday October 9, 2013.