‘HONEYMOON couple’ Jacob and Marie Venter from the Bluff celebrated their 50th anniversary last month with a weekend getaway, courtesy of their three daughters.
The couple were treated to a fun weekend where they were known as the honeymoon couple before returning home to a surprise party with friends and family.
It was love at first sight when they met at a mutual friend’s 21st birthday party in 1961. Five years later Jacob wed his love, Marie on 8 January 1966 in Roodepoort.
In 1989, Jacob was transferred to Durban and the couple have been living on the Bluff for the last 26 years.
Jacob, who retired in 1995, worked as an auditor and Marie was an admin assistant before deciding to become a stay-at-home mother in 1970. The pair have three daughters, two grandsons and one granddaughter.
Jacob is an avid Sharks fan and now works as a part-time courier, while Marie, who was a badminton player in her youth, visits and helps out friends at old age homes and attends the Friendship Guild.
Reminiscing on their lives together, the Venters fondly recall a Symphony boat cruise; a trip to Victoria Falls and a tour of the Namaqualand flowers. According to them, their faith in God, patience and love has kept them together for half a century.
