Four years later, the couple married and today they celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in Gore.
Their relationship began in the days when young people met at the dances, Mr Withers (81) said.
"The girls all sit in seats around the hall and the boys all stand in the doorway," he said.
He saw his future wife seated with her friends.
"She was a redhead — stood out," Mr Withers said.
"You should have run," Mrs Withers (82) said.
He caught her eye and approached her for a dance.
"I thought he was all right," she said.
Usually, after couples spent time dancing, the boy would ask if he could take the girl home, Mr Withers said.
"I wasn’t really game enough to ask her home that first night cause I was too chicken."
However, several weeks later he did offer to do so and their friendship grew.
They were both 17 at the time.
Mr Withers worked on a Waipahi farm and used to travel three nights a week in his 1954 Vauxhall Velox to see his girlfriend.
"As it got more serious it became Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night and Wednesday night," he said.
At the time he earned £8 a week, £5 of which went towards petrol.
"You can do a lot with £3."
Mrs Withers worked at a Gore law firm.
The pair married when they were 21 and 22 years old, at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament.
Mr Withers said that in those days it was "frowned upon" for a Catholic to marry a Protestant, so he converted to Catholicism.
"I liked her so much I wanted to be with her so [I] changed my religion to make it easier so it didn’t put any pressure on her from the rest of the family."
Patience was key to a long marriage, he said.
Mrs Withers agreed.
"We enjoy each other’s company," she said.
The couple, who had five children, 12 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, said family was very important to them.
