The Oamaru couple, who celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary tomorrow, were not sure there was a secret to a long marriage — they just got on well and had worked hard.
"I picked the right one," Mr McCallum (87) said.
Mr and Mrs McCallum (nee Hawke) met at a 21st birthday party at the Waikiwi Hall in Invercargill.
After that, "as things do", a relationship developed, and they were married about three years later, in Invercargill, at the Holy Trinity Church, Mrs McCallum (83) said.
"We had a lovely day, really," she said.
They decided to move from Invercargill to Oamaru soon after their wedding, after tossing up between the North Otago town and Nelson. With family in Invercargill, they did not want to be "too far away", and Mr McCallum’s cousin helped secure him a carpentry job at Maynard and Armstrong in Oamaru. Mrs McCallum was a stay-at-home mother to their two children, Barry and Joanne.
In the late 1960s, the couple ran the Universal Dairy together, and Mrs McCallum later worked at Frasers Four Square. They both retired 23 years ago.
The couple always had separate interests.
Mrs McCallum enjoyed playing tennis and squash, representing North Otago at tennis for many years and being awarded life membership of the Fernbrook Tennis Club. Mr McCallum was a very good darts player, and played for the New Zealand RSA team against Australia several times.
In more recent years, they enjoyed playing indoor bowls together.
Sixty years of marriage, and of life in Oamaru, had flown by.
"We wondered where the 60 years had gone," Mrs McCallum said.
"Sixty years is a long time to be married — it doesn’t seem that long."
They celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary with family last weekend, and planned to go to the Star and Garter with friends to mark the milestone this weekend.
