Kath and Nevis Richardson joke about who fell in love with whom at first sight, as they sit down to talk about their 60 years of marriage.
Mrs Richardson said ‘‘he fell in love with me at first sight'' and then looks to her husband with a twinkle in her eye. ‘‘You did, didn't you,'' she laughs.
Of course, he agrees with her.
‘‘I took one look and said that's the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with.'' And he has.
The pair were married at the Presbyterian Church at Musselburgh in Dunedin on April 17, 1948.
They raised five children and now have 14 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren.
Mrs Richardson had trained as a kindergarten teacher. She earned four pounds, seven and sixpence a month for two years and gave her mother two pounds a month.
Her next job was as a government home aid, where she earned four pounds and four shillings a week. That was wonderful, she said.
In those days it was hard to find somewhere to live and the couple rented a house at Highcliff for 12 shillings and sixpence a week.
On his return from the armed services, where he was a truck driver, Mr Richardson worked on a rehabilitative carpentry course in Dunedin. He helped build many of the houses at Corstorphine.
They bought a section at Fairfield and lived in a caravan on site while their house was being built.
The first three girls were born over the following few years.
‘‘I built a house in Fairfield with a drapery shop at the front to keep her off the streets,'' Mr Richardson chuckled.
Then there was another baby coming, so they built a house in Martin St at Fairfield. ‘‘After a while we got itchy feet and I thought I would like to go farming, but we ended up buying an orchard at Earnscleugh, where we lived for about eight years, and the children helped out as they were growing up,'' Mr Richardson said.
Some of the family moved back to Dunedin for various reasons, so Mr and Mrs Richardson sold the orchard and moved to Mosgiel. They built six flats and lived off the income while they set up a tree nursery.
These days life is a little quieter, although not much, as the couple work to live sustainably with their four hens in the back yard and their vegetable and gardens and fruit trees.
Mrs Richardson loves to knit, plays mah-jongg and is a member of a gardening club, Probus and a spinners and weavers society, while Mr Richardson plays bowls and golf.
