Humour key to wedded bliss

Edna and Alan Briggs will celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary tomorrow  at their house...
Edna and Alan Briggs will celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary tomorrow at their house overlooking Oamaru. Photo by David Bruce.
''Tell him it's 65 years of wedded bliss,'' Alan Briggs says, just moving out of range of any retaliation from his wife Edna.

''I'd need to have a good old think about that,'' was her reply to the question of highlights of 65 years marriage, ahead of their wedding anniversary tomorrow.

''It's had its ups and downs, but it's been a good life,'' Mr Briggs said.

Humour has been part of the ''spark'' of their marriage, since their wedding on February 25, 1950 at St Paul's Church in Oamaru.

That date is important, because February 25 is the day after Mrs Briggs' birthday - she turned 86 yesterday - and Mr Briggs is 89.

Her father forbid his daughters marrying until they were 21 years old and, after a three-year courtship that started at the weekly dance in the Scottish Hall where they met, the couple tied the knot the day after Mrs Briggs' 21st birthday.

Mrs Briggs, as Edna Kippenberger, was born in Cromwell.

Her family came to Oamaru in 1942.

After leaving school, she worked at North's milk bar until she married.

Mr Briggs was born on the West Coast, worked for the Westport-Stockton Coal Company then came to Oamaru in 1946 as a fireman for New Zealand Railways steam trains.

After marrying, they bought a house in Eden St, which they renovated before building one on Thames Highway in north Oamaru.

But the couple will be best known for the poultry farm they established in Parsons Rd and then the Whitestone Chicken processing plant in Tees St.

At the peak, they had 14,000 laying hens and 80,000 meat chickens on their farm at any one time.

They owned the processing until the early 2000s, when son Harry and wife Joanne taking it over.

Both have led an active life. Mrs Briggs was heavily involved with bowls, bridge, and is still an active member of the North Otago Women's Club.

For about 40 years, she delivered Meals on Wheels, joined by Mr Briggs when he retired.

Mr Briggs served nine years on the Poultry Board, including as chairman from 1979 and a three-year term on the Waitaki County Council from 1980.

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