Scene two: A chastised, but pragmatic, Jack is seen walking down the main street of Port Chalmers towards Joan’s house the next day, trying to hide a bunch of flowers in a large paper bag — he is worried someone might see him doing something romantic.
To this day, the couple and their extended family still laugh about his effort to woo her.
They agree they were quite different people at the start, but like they say, opposites attract, and the couple are now celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary today.
Mrs Stanley said their first date was when she invited Mr Stanley to escort her to her sister’s wedding.
"And then he asked me to the movies the next week, and it carried on from there."
A couple of years later, Mrs Stanley said she got tired of waiting for a marriage proposal, so she went in to a Dunedin jewellery store and "sussed out" an engagement ring that she liked.
"I said, here’s the ring that I want. If you buy it and propose to me in the Octagon, I’ll say yes.
"It was a foregone conclusion really.
"I loved his sense of humour, his politeness, his manners.
"In effect, I proposed to him."
You can see a trend developing here, but Mr Stanley said it was not because he was unromantic.
He said he felt like she was a bit out of his league and was nervous about proposing to her.
Soon after the couple were engaged, they bought an old house together in Sawyers Bay and spent about 18 months doing it up so they could get married and move in.
"We had to lift the floor up and re-pile the entire house, and because Jack was an electrician, he did all the electrical work," Mrs Stanley said.
Both said it was stressful work at the time, but it showed them if their relationship could survive that kind of pressure, it could survive marriage.
They were married at the St Mary’s Star of the Sea church in Port Chalmers in 1959.
Mr Stanley said he had had a few shocks from his work as "a sparky" during his career, but the biggest shock of his life came from Mrs Stanley.
The couple were raising five children, and Mr Stanley was satisfied that their family was complete.
But unbeknown to him, five years after their last child, Mrs Stanley was pregnant with number six.
"She chose to tell me while we were on holiday, camping in Nelson.
"It was pretty hard to have a conversation in a tent without the rest of the camping ground hearing about it."
They ended up having seven children, most of whom will celebrate the couple’s 65th wedding anniversary with their 17 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren this weekend.
Mr Stanley said he was surprised by how 65 years had just "snuck up" on them.
"We’ve just been living life together and having fun, and all of a sudden we’re here."
