The Alexandra couple will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary at a small gathering with family and friends today. Mrs Oliver said they never argued, which helped them sustain a happy marriage.
The same cannot be said of the family as a whole, as a regular fixture of the Dunedin household were the "Friday night debates".
Mr Oliver said with a few beers, and sherry by the half-gallon, they would use the night to air any grievances, whether they be about politics or everyday life.
"Neighbours would come too. If anything upset you, you would talk about it. You got it off your chest and people would argue with you. It was just comradeship. There was never any nastiness."
It is that comradeship which led them to 60 happy years together.
The two are both from Dunedin, but met in Roxburgh when Mr Oliver, a plasterer, was working in the town.Mrs Oliver (nee Cleverley) worked at what was then Roxburgh’s Commercial Hotel.
"She would bring me a cup of tea in bed in the morning. Now it’s probably the other way around."
He moved back to Dunedin and she followed, getting a job at the Roslyn Woollen Mill.
Eighteen months later they were married in the town’s Caversham Presbyterian Church.
They built their house on a 1.8ha block near Waverley on the Otago Peninsula, raising sheep and pigs and growing potatoes and other vegetables, Mr Oliver said.
"I had friends who were painters and such, so we could swap labour."
The couple, who declined to give their ages, had three boys, and now have six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Son Garry Oliver said his parents were great at caring for each other and knew "exactly what the other needed and just did it".
They have both done their share of volunteering since moving to Alexandra in 1981, Mr Oliver with the Fulton Hogan Cycle Park and Wastebusters, and Mrs Oliver at the Salvation Army Family Store.
Now, with their vegetable garden, fruit trees and chickens, they hope to have many more years together.
