Des and Lennie first met as 15-year-olds in Himatangi, Manawatū. Des, a shy farm boy, worked near Lennie’s family dairy farm. Their first date was a trip to the cinema in Foxton, the difference was Lennie's whole family chaperoned.

“My brother sat next to Des, my sister was on the other side, and my parents were behind us,” Lennie recalls. Hand-holding? “Oh, definitely not!” she laughs.

Engaged at 18 and married at 20, they wed on 22 March 1958, despite skepticism from others. “Everybody told us we were too young,” says Des. “But we knew our own minds.”

Raising three children, they pursued their dream of farm ownership by buying a dairy farm in Te Awamutu in 1967. Lennie also ran a hairdressing salon, while Des was well known for playing music in Waikato clubs. “I’ve serenaded Lennie, and she’ll dance in front of me and joke about it,” he says.

Now the retired couple are keeping busy living in Mount Maunganui’s Ocean Shores retirement community, regularly getting involved in village activities.

“We still both keep busy because we’re both on the entertainment committee here at the village. I do the organising of the dinners while Des does the entertainment, we’re a great team,” Lennie says.

Their secret? “Love, honesty, and hard work,” says Des. “You’ve got to be truthful and give and take. We’ve always had something in mind or a plan for the next thing we were going to do together, whether that was house renovations or taking a cruise.”

Lennie agrees: “We don’t mind being in each other’s space and Des tells me he misses me when I’m away. He’s romantic just by loving me every day and being affectionate. We’re best friends… best friends with benefits, as the young people say!”