50 years of harmonised love

GILLITTS residents, Colleen and Garry Philp, will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on Friday 2 May.

The couple met when Colleen was 16 years old and Garry was 19 years old. Colleen recalled how her mother dragged her to a MOTHS dance for war veterans. “I did not want to go and I remember sitting against the wall, like a wall flower, sulking. I saw him walking in through the back door with his friends, and I leaned over to my mother and said, “I am going to marry that man”. It was love at first sight,” said Colleen. As luck would have it, during a Paul James dance, a dance used to get people mingling and dancing, Garry was selected to dance with Colleen’s mother. As she knew about Colleen’s feelings for Garry she asked him to dance with her daughter and he obliged.

Colleen and Garry invited each other to school socials after that, but never officially started dating until a year later, when he invited her to the Spring Ball. “We shared our first kiss at that ball,” said Colleen.

They exchanged vows at the Kloof Baptist Church in 1964. A year later Colleen and Garry, who grew up in the Midlands and Durban, respectively, moved to Pinetown. In 1972 they moved to Forest Hills and settled in Gillitts in 1991.

The couple raised their three children, Graeme Philp (who lives in the United Kingdom), Joanne Fagan (who lives in Cape Town) and Rowan Philp (who lives in Durban) in Forest Hills. Years later they blessed the couple with seven grandchildren.

In 1955 Garry started a career as a printer. Twelve years later he moved to sales. Colleen began her career as a radiographer student at Addington Hospital in 1961, but she also began singing professionally at the age of 20. In 1977 she was asked to teach classical singing at Durban University of Technology (DUT). Back then it was known as the Natal Technikon. The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), which was known as the University of Natal, also asked her to become a singing teacher in 1982. She was also employed by the University of Durban-Westville in 1987 as a singing teacher.

Colleen’s career as a professional singer and teacher, garnered her an opportunity to perform at a goodwill concert in Berlin a year after the wall was torn down.

According to Garry the couple’s love not only originated through music and dance, but has also grown through music. “I grew up with classical music, so we both share a passion for music and that connects us,” said Garry.

Colleen admitted that a marriage is not always harmonious. “You have your ups and your downs. You will get angry with the other person, but you must never go to sleep without apologising or sorting things out,” said Colleen. The couple suggests that the ‘composition’ behind a good marriage includes the three C’s: care, compassion and compromise.

In celebration of their anniversary Garry and Colleen plan to renew their vows, and share a relaxing lunch with family at Le Domaine.