THEY danced their way to each other’s hearts as teenagers, and 70 years later, the couple get to share their love story with the Highway Mail. Cowies Hill couple Denis and Mary Smit met as teenagers, fell in love and never looked back.

Sharing their story, Denis said he met his wife of 70 years through Mary’s older sister as they were dancing partners. “Mary’s sister was my dancing partner, and we would go to competitions together. On the day of a competition, I went to Mary’s house to pick up her sister. When I got there, I found Mary, who was ready while my partner was still getting ready. Right on the spot, I changed my mind and decided to go with Mary instead of my initial partner, and my dance partner never forgave me for that,” said Denis as he chuckled.

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The couple had four children, two of whom have passed on. “When all these challenges arose, we were together as a family. We had four children and lost both our daughters in the space of six weeks. One of my daughters died of breast cancer, and the other one lost her life to a car accident,” he said.

Denis (92) said he recalls cheating death so many times, and he is grateful to still be alive today. “I remember when my wife was still working in Johannesburg, and I was on my way to visit her. While I was there, I witnessed someone getting mugged, and I jumped in to help them, and I was stabbed. The police took me to the police station to take a statement, and blood was pouring out of my chest. I was then rushed to hospital, and they told me that if I had come any later, I would have died. I also spent three months in hospital after I had been hit by a concrete pole on my head,” he explained.

Mary said she was ecstatic that she got to raise a family with the man that she loved.
“We had been dating for two years, and he went away for a while, and before he came back, he told me that this life is for us and he would like for us to get married. On December 27, we got married after two weeks of planning the wedding. We lived in a small cottage and never looked back after that,” she said.

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Mary said she will always hold the memories they created when they travelled as a family across the world. “One of our biggest and most memorable vacations is when we went to England for six weeks. During that vacation, we got to travel to London and watched the Wimbledon tennis finals. We found accommodation in a hotel that was hosting the Miss World competition. On our other vacations, we got to see places like Hollywood, Disney World and Las Vegas. In these 70 years, we got to share both happy and sad moments and raise our kids together.”

Today, the couple have three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. “My husband and I have a lot in common, from dancing together to sharing the same beliefs. The more we danced together, the more we liked each other,” said Mary.