Together, they have forged a marriage that is 65 years old and counting.
Jim (91) and Noeline (85) Wilson, who moved to Oamaru from Central Otago eight years ago, had nothing special planned for their blue sapphire anniversary today.
"We'll have a celebration later on when everyone is together," Mrs Wilson said at the couple's Oamaru home yesterday.
Everyone, in that context, meant quite a crowd.
The pair have five sons, one daughter, 20 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren throughout New Zealand and Australia.
Their romance began late in 1945, when Jim returned to Dunedin to work as a plasterer after serving his country in Italy and Egypt.
They met courtesy of Noeline's father, who gave Jim a lift into town daily for work from the Mount Cargill area.
Neither can clearly remember their first meeting, but Mrs Wilson was in no doubt about why that meeting happened.
"He must have been watching me," she said.
The wedding, attended by "90-odd" guests at Dunedin's First Church, followed six months later at 7pm on December 6, 1946.
Dual cream taxis with ribbons, performances by two members of the Dunedin Highland Pipe Band, and a honeymoon at the Railway Hotel in Christchurch dominated their memories of that time.
The pair lived in York Pl in Dunedin following the nuptials, before moving to Central Otago where they grew stone and pip fruit.
Mrs Wilson was unsure whether there was a single reason why the pair had stayed so close for so long.
"There's no secret really," she said.
"We just give and take - he gives and I take."
The couple basically remain self-sufficient in their Oamaru home, only requiring home help for an hour a fortnight for vacuuming and washing the floors.
What makes that rather remarkable, is that at age 13, Mrs Wilson contracted polio - then known as infantile paralysis - in an epidemic that swept New Zealand.
"If it wasn't for my doctor walking me up and down the deck every day I probably could have been crippled," she said.
Mrs Wilson said they were loving their time in Oamaru, as she showed off her slightly crinkled wedding dress yesterday.
"I don't think I could get into it now," she chuckled.
