IT’S been 50 years of love, happiness, travelling and much more for uMhlanga couple, Alistair and Marilyn Forbes.

The couple will officially be married for five decades (today) April 6 and plan on having a family gathering to celebrate the milestone.

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Looking back, Marilyn recalls the day she and Alistair met. The year was 1968. She was 18 and Alistair was 20.

“We met on campus at Wits University, and our first date was to a hockey dance. We both played first-team hockey at Wits. That was the start of a six-year courtship before we decided to tie the knot,” she said.

Alistair studied accounting while Marilyn studied linguistics – French and Italian.

The couple exchanged vows in Johannesburg and then went on honeymoon to the Blue Marlin Hotel in Scottburgh, and so began their journey of travelling, becoming parents to three daughters and, over the years, grandparents to 11 grandchildren.

After Alistair found a job, the couple moved to Malawi for a few years where their first daughter, Kerri, was born. Then daughters Deborah and Jo-Ann came along. All three children live in Salt Rock.

“Then I worked in shipping and containers for a while before starting our own business in the same field. It made sense to be closer to the coast so we moved to uMhlanga in 1981, and this has been home ever since. We opened Almar Container Group which our sons-in-law now run,” he said.

“Over the years, we have both enjoyed sport, and we still go skiing every year. Our favourite place to visit is Lech in Austria. Its landscape is beautiful with all the magnificent mountains,” said Alistair.

The couple says they owe 50 years of marriage to God, who has always been at the centre of their lives.
“Our marriage has always been very important to us and is something we will always cherish,” said Marilyn.

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