Double The Love: 70 Years Married, Times Two!

Meet The Sanders Brothers And Their Sweethearts.

- Lynley Ward

Syd Sanders remembers the moment he proposed to his wartime sweetheart as their carriage rolled noisily through a pitch-black Auckland tunnel. Younger brother Eric’s engagement was equally memorable, buying a diamond ring and proposing to his ladylove on his 21st birthday.

Both love stories blossomed in South Auckland’s dance halls during the late 1940s. Now spanning seven decades − and three dozen descendants − the devoted couples will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversaries within months of each other.

It’s an impressive double milestone for the retired siblings, who recently reunited under the same roof to enjoy their twilight years at Bupa Erin Park Care Home and Retirement Village in Manurewa.

“It is special,” reflects Syd’s wife Coralee as the four sit down to reminisce about falling in love in post-war New Zealand.

“I don’t think we imagined living this long when we were in our early 20s, but there was never any doubt in all of our minds that we’d still be together,” adds sister-in-law Verna.

For Eric (91) and Verna (88), the first to celebrate their platinum anniversary in mid-November, their romance began at a ball in the Windsor Theatre, Papakura.

“Eric had a sister who was a friend of mine and he brought her to the dance. We met, then the following week the phone rings and Noreen, his sister, says, ‘Would you come to the dance with us? Eric has the car and said he’d take me if you come with us.’ So that sort of went from there.”

“That was the end of it,” quips Eric cheekily. The couple wed in 1948 and spent much of their married life in Rotorua, raising three boys and a girl.