Couple celebrates a lifetime of love
They have been together for 50 years and the marriage is still going strong.
Life is good for Monika and Hennie Greyling because they are together.
The pair celebrated their golden wedding anniversary on June 3 and are still as much in love today as they were when they tied the knot.
The Marlands couple married in the NG Kerk Middleton on June 3, 1967 after courting from 1965.
Their courtship started as a result of their attending the same party.
Monika said that she had gone to visit her friend Ellie van der Nest one evening, not realising that it was Ellie’s 21st birthday party.
“I wanted to leave but Ellie wouldn’t hear of it so I was hiding behind the kitchen door, as I was not dressed for a party, when Hennie walked in.
“I couldn’t believe it as we had played together when we were small children in Germiston and had then lost touch after my family moved to Pretoria.”
That evening (July 22) the friendship was rekindled and Hennie asked her out for their first date on August 5. “We went to the roadhouse for coffee, if I remember correctly,” Hennie said.
“At the time Monika was studying to become a nurse and midwife at the Germiston Nursing Home but once she finished her studies she returned home to her parents in Pretoria.
“I would travel through every second day to visit her.”
Love bloomed and the couple married. They set up home and had four children, Johannes, Samuel, Elize Engelbrecht and Susara Beeslaar.
Today they also boast five grandchildren.
Monika worked as a nurse at the old Roseacres Clinic, on night duty, for 30 years and retired in 2003 after the hospital moved to its new premises.
Hennie worked as a gas plant operative for seven years and then had his own business (doing carpeting and decorating).
He also retired in 2003.
“I worked all over doing contracts, even in the Union Buildings,” said Hennie.
The couple first lived in Edenvale, then in Kempton Park, before moving to Fishers’ Hill, (where they stayed for 49 years), and then to Marlands three years ago. A
lthough they always view their honeymoon to Sabie and Port Elizabeth as a highlight of their years together, they had an epic trip on the Blue Train in 2010 which both describe as a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“Hennie took R100 and bought raffle tickets where the trip was the grand prize,” Monika said.
“I was so angry with him, as at that time we really didn’t have any extra money; but about two weeks later we received a call saying that we had won.”
“It was all-expenses-paid and we travelled on the Blue Train, then to Port Elizabeth, then to Durban, then Nelspruit and finally home,” Hennie said.
“It was the first time Monika had ever flown as well; and it was so funny, when we were flying from Durban to Nelspruit, we hit turbulence and poor Monika nearly got thrown right out of her seat.
“She got such a fright.
“The trip was definitely the biggest thing ever to happen to us.”
Hennie also joked with the GCN about the fact that he is not bald yet.
“Do you want to know why?” he asked the GCN.
“Well, my father always used to say that the man is the head of the house and the woman is the neck and it’s the neck that turns the head.
“I was lucky that Monika was quite still so there wasn’t much rubbing, allowing me to keep my hair,” he laughed.
The couple added that the secret to a successful marriage is communication.
“Don’t go to bed with an angry face. Have some coffee and a cookie and talk about things,” said Hennie.
“You must talk things out and help each other,” said Monika.
The couple celebrated their special anniversary with a surprise braai organised by their family.
Other articles you may be interested in:
Couple renews vows at 50th anniversary
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