Hopelessly devoted 'OUR SECRETS TO A LASTING LOVE'

Three wonderful couples share the joy of still being with their soulmate

-  Fleur Guthrie  

Rex & Valerie Cowley

When Rex Cowley spotted Valerie Harris across an Auckland dance hall in 1949, he thought to himself, “She’s a bit of all right” and immediately wanted the next dance with her.

But Val, as she’s known, was only 17 and had come to Ye Olde Pirate Ship – a two storey dance hall in Milford – on a date with another chap, who Rex knew.

“I didn’t care,” smiles Rex, 92. “I asked her to dance and we just hit it off straight away. It was love at first sight.”

“When we finished that first dance,” adds 90-year-old Val, “I said to him, ‘Thank you very much… I know the story of your life now’ and he hasn’t stopped talking since then!

“I knew that night he was the one too. And from then on, we went to every dance together. Our favourite was the Peter Pan cabaret at the top of Queen Street. I used to hide Rex’s booze – a half bottle of rum – in my stockings because they used to frisk the blokes but not the ladies.”

As the spry pair sit chatting to the Weekly from their apartment in Arvida Mayfair Auckland retirement community, Val rests her hand on her husband’s knee and shares that they still feel in love 70 years of wedded bliss later.

When they first met, Rex had just joined the NZ Navy as an apprentice engineer. He popped the question to Val, a talented seamstress, before being deployed to the UK for three years.