Mutual understanding key to their love

[caption id="attachment_40243" align="alignright" width="517"] THEN: Hekkie Greeff and Hazel Spencer tied the knot at St Barnabas Anglican Church on July 2 1949, and NOW: Hekkie Greeff and his wife, Hazel, recently celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary Picture: JUDY DE VEGA[/caption]

"SHE fell madly in love with me!" adamant he was not the first one to let his guard down to love, Hekkie Greeff remembered the day he met his wife, Hazel. "We met in 1946, he was part of a musical band," Hazel quickly chipped in. They met at a mutual neighbourhood friend's birthday party, they said, having both grown up in the Port Elizabeth suburb of Kensington. Hekkie at the time played both violin and guitar and his band performed at the party.

It was on the dance floor that their young relationship, which has now reached a milestone of 65 years, began.

"From that day we saw each other quite often. We took walks together – to buy chips and ice cream – and sometimes went out to the bioscope," reminisced 87-year-old Hekkie.

A few years later Hekkie, who worked as an administrator at the department of posts and telegraphs was transferred to Pretoria.

"He wrote me a telegram to say he missed me and wanted to marry me," said Hazel, adding that it was actually Hekkie who could not survive without her by his side.

"I wrote to her father too. It was important to let the parents know," he said, adding that said his good manners were a good omen to the Spencer family, and they did not reject his proposal to ask for their daughter's hand in marriage.

"I was a good chap, an honest man," he said.

The Newton Park pair said the glue to their long-lived marriage was their mutual understanding – something that came "naturally".

"We've always been a partnership ... we discussed everything before we did it. We didn't have this business of 'this is mine, this is yours'," he added.

Agreeing. Hazel said: "We were very level-headed".

Recalling their winter wedding day the two said it was a fairly small affair, where only about 20 family members attended, "it was like a tea party."

Their "12 o'clock" ceremony, as Hazel precisely remembered was held on July 2 1949 at St Barnabas Anglican Church in Kensington. "We didn't have a reception because we had to take the next train to Pretoria three hours after the ceremony but it was a the most beautiful winter's day, it was warm ... just perfect you know.

"My mother tailor-made my dress," 84-year-old Hazel said.

One mistake she made was that she should have delegated somebody to help arrange the wedding.

"Being the busy bride that I was, I forgot to order flowers for the groomsmen's buttonholes so they picked some red carnations at the church.

"And when we had to go to the Middlebrooks studios for our wedding photos, I took a white carnation out of my bouquet," she laughed.

With more than 65 years of marriage, the couple still beam with love for one another. In true team spirit they disappeared into another room and came back with wedding gifts they have kept.

As they unwrapped beautifully patterned glass vases, Hekkie still remembered: "We got these from Hazel's uncle."

The couple have three children, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. - Balisa Ntloko