Eden Gardens couple celebrates 72 years together
A Durban couple share the simple secret behind more than seven decades of love, friendship and lifelong companionship.
SPECIALLY sealing the month of love, Molly and Brian Wray celebrated their 72nd wedding anniversary on February 27.
The residents of the Eden Gardens Retirement Complex are described as kind and loving, and the adoration for one another is evident. They are all smiles, laughing, beaming, and visibly in good health.
Aged 92 and 93, the couple has been at the retirement village for the past 13 years. They both agree that over the years, the “puppy love” fades, making way for a more solid friendship and companionship. They first met in October 1950, in their late teens, at a softball game where Brian was playing, and Molly and her friend came to watch. They have been inseparable ever since.
“My friend said, come take a look at Brian,” Molly quipped. Brian jokes that Molly held his jacket, and “that was it”. “I invited him to my house for Christmas night, and we started dating thereafter,” said Molly. In February 1954, they tied the knot, and nine years later, they started a family.
Throughout their working ages, Molly worked as a shorthand typist in private companies before she traded the desk for motherhood. Brian worked in wood and metal production and retired in 1993. To this day, Brian, “the gentleman”, still opens the door for his wife, he still drives, and does wood and metalwork at the retirement home. Although they are not spending time doing any hobbies, they say they used to bowl before Covid.
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When asked about the recipe for a long, loving marriage, they said unequivocally, “Tolerance and understanding for one another.”
On what they cherish about one another, 72 years later, Molly said, “He is a very good husband, kind and loving.” Brian shares, “We may have differences but nothing comes between us; we are both here for one another, and we get along so well.”
The Wrays are blessed with two children who currently reside in the USA.
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