The Alexandra couple will be joined by family and friends on January 26 to mark the occasion and say the time has just flown.
''It doesn't seem like 65 years in a way, although it is a long time. The years have slipped by and we've been busy with raising a family and all those things you do,'' Mr Wormald said. They were raised in Oamaru.
''Judith was from the town and I was from the country - from Peebles.''
Mrs Wormald, nee Stanley, was working as an office girl and he was a shearer.
''The chap who introduced us said his girlfriend could bring along a friend, and how about making up a foursome to go out together. Judith was his girlfriend's friend and we quite liked the look of each other and have been together ever since,'' Mr Wormald said.
She was his first girlfriend and he was her first boyfriend. Their wedding was at St Luke's Anglican Church in Oamaru and he can remember his bride walking down the aisle ''as plain as if it was yesterday''.
Mrs Wormald, a skilled dressmaker, made her own lace and satin wedding gown. She went with her groom-to-be to pick up his suit from the tailor and the man had some words of advice for the couple.
''He said don't expect to go straight into what you're coming out of - in other words, your parents have worked hard all their lives to get this point, so don't expect to start off where they are now,'' Mr Wormald said.
''I reckon that was a bit of good advice and we've followed that.''
Another piece of advice that has stood them in good stead was not to let the sun set on an argument.
''Husbands and wives who say they never argue are talking bunkum,'' he said.
''The important thing, if you've had a bit of a barney, is to make it up before the sun goes down. That's the way we work and we've had our differences here and there but we still get on pretty well together.''
The couple raised a family of two sons and three daughters, and now have 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Included among their grandchildren is former All Black hooker Tom Willis, now working as a lawyer in Dunedin, who is the father of two of their great-grandchildren. They loved following his rugby career and are equally proud of the successes of their other children and grandchildren.
In the early days, shearing was a more seasonal job, so Mr Wormald combined it with working as a slaughterman and boner at the Pukeuri Freezing Works. The Wormalds shifted to Alexandra 58 years ago after buying a butchery in the town and ran Central Butchery Alex Ltd for 45 years. The couple became involved in many community organisations and helped with the annual blossom festival. Mrs Wormald served a stint as president of Alexandra Girl Guides and fashioned wedding gowns for many brides over the years. Mr Wormald was a Rotarian, a long-serving member of St John, and a member of the Vincent Hospital Board for more than a decade, finishing as chairman when the board evolved into the Otago Area Health Board.
''In those days, we had a hospital at Cromwell as well as in Clyde and we worked pretty hard to keep the hospital open at Clyde after the Clyde dam wound down.''
He is proud of the fact that there has been a hospital at Clyde for 150 years. The anniversary is being marked later this year.
