Roy (82) and Margaret (80) Kingan will mark their 60th wedding anniversary today hosting family members at their home, before a gathering this Sunday, which will include their bridal party.
The pair met at a dance at the Drill Hall in Oamaru in 1953 when Mr Kingan was home on leave from compulsory
military training.
Mrs Kingan (nee Rodger) described his dance skills as ''ordinary'', but the two started a friendship that turned into romance.
They were married in Oamaru's Columba Church on August 25, 1956.
The retired farmers were both from the Waitaki district - Mrs Kingan from Kauru Hill and Mr Kingan from Fuschia Creek.
Neither claimed to know the secret for a long marriage, but say their farming backgrounds, and their ability ''to get on'', worked for them.
They both left high school early to work on their family farms and homes - Mrs Kingan left after the fifth form and Mr Kingan never finished the fourth form.
''She's the brains'' [of the couple], he said.
They moved to Weston after they left their Fuschia Creek farm in 2000.
They occupied their time in the Waitaki by serving the community.
Mrs Kingan was a member of the Five Forks Plunket Society and was made a life member. She served as president and secretary of the North Otago Garden Club and was in the North Otago Rose Society.
Mr Kingan was a life member of the Five Forks Young Farmers Club, the Five Forks School Committee, the Five Forks Hall Committee, the Dunrobin Water Supply Scheme and was an active Waiareka Lions member.
The couple have five children, 11 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
