While it wasn’t love at first sight, Ted and Rona Thurgood must’ve done something right – because they’re celebrating their 72nd wedding anniversary.
It was November 16, 1951, when Ted and Rona were married in Auckland, and just 12 months after meeting one another.
Like many of their generation, the pair met at an Auckland dance hall called ‘The Orange’ of Karangahape Rd, where Ted asked Rona for a dance.
She wasn’t too impressed with the young policeman however.
Growing love
“He tried to tell me he was a policeman. I couldn’t swallow that one. I thought he was a skinny, puny, little-looking fella,” says 91-year-old Rona.
Ted’s first impression was slightly different. “I thought that she was neat,” says the 93-year-old.
Love soon crept in nonetheless.
“It’s like a wart – it grows on you. That’s what I’ve always said to him,” says Rona.
And in their 72 years of marriage, Rona has never once taken off her wedding band.
Ted describes Rona as a “mighty wife” and says it’s her “behaviour and her stance on everything” that makes her so.
“I couldn’t have gotten a better women.”
Te Puke days
Serving as a policeman for 36 years, Ted and Rona lived in Waikato and Bay of Plenty depending on where Ted was stationed.
From 1968 to 1975, Ted was stationed at Te Puke as Senior Officer, where he was notoriously known as a very tough cop.
“A lot of people felt sorry for me,” says Rona.
“They said he must be a mongrel of a man.”
One of Te Puke’s social club’s even started a petition to get rid of him, but Ted stayed on!
During this time, Rona worked as the unpaid deputy, answering the station’s calls, helping with assaulted women and children, and feeding Ted’s crayfish tails to those locked up.
“If you saw Ted in uniform he is a totally different man and I saw the real side of him,” says Rona.
Together, Ted and Rona had four children – the late Doreen, and Lynette, Valerie and Michael.
“There’s still their strong dedication that shines through for one another and always some of that banter that only they do so well,” says their youngest daughter Val.
“It always brings a laugh to whoever is visiting!”
Rona and Ted on their wedding day on November 16, 1951. Photo: Supplied.
Still side-by-side
Both in their nineties with 10 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren, the pair still live in their Mount Maunganui home with assistance from healthcare providers.
“Mum is dad’s rock,” says Valerie.
“Dad would be totally lost without mum. She gets up to him in the night and checks in on him.”
So what’s Rona and Ted’s advice for making a marriage work for more than seven decades? “Shut off to a lot of it…just take it day by day,” says Rona.
“Getting on well together. That’s the biggest thing,” says Ted.