Couple celebrates 67 years of being together

Terence and his wife Beryl O’Brien vowed to spend the rest of their lives together in front of their family and friends when they tied the knot in 1957. And 67 years later, the couple who reside at Douglasdale Retirement Village are still going strong.

Terence said he was only 23 years old when he got charmed by this young well-mannered gorgeous lady for months but did not have the guts to tell her until he got a new car. Beryl was 19 years old at the time.

“He said to me can I give you a lift?, I said yes because we were neighbours and used to follow each other to the same bus stop as we went to work but never spoke to each other until that day. That was in 1955.”

The rest was history.

“We both love each other very much and to this day, we still send Valentine’s cards to each other. Terry is 92 and I am 88, so our love is very quiet now. So, we did not do anything special on Valentine’s Day. We just sat down together and talked about the good old times. Terry has always carried scrapbooks of what we have done, we browse through those, and it is always cute,” says Beryl.

Finding each other and being in harmony is what Beryl said is one of the memories she holds very near and dear to her heart.

“The greatest one is when we came to South Africa with our 18-month baby boy in 1967. We had our little daughter just nine months after being in the country. We were very lucky, and they are still here in Johannesburg.”

She said what she loves the most about her husband, is how caring he is – whilst he, on the other hand, loves how she cooks.

“He is also very clever in taking up ideas and carrying them out. We had lots of fun; we sailed and travelled the whole of Southern Africa. I had overseas trips to America, Australia, Europe, and we do not like going back to England very much, where we come from, we are South Africans to the core.”

The couple said they never miss celebrating their wedding anniversary on June 7 every year.

“Our kids always spoil us. They do so much for us and host big parties which we appreciate. Our friends sadly, are passing on, we do not have many friends left. We have friends that left now but we have made friends here at the retirement home.”

Terence said even though they are old, they hope to go to heaven together when life ends.

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