HILLCREST residents, Adrian and Sheila Vermeulen, will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary on Thursday, 19 February.
They married in Bulawayo (Rhodesia) in 1955 and caught a train to their honeymoon destination at the Swiss Farm Excelsior in Franschoek.
Adrian and Sheila were both born in Bloemfontein, but ironically only met in Bulawayo many years later. They spent most of their married life in
Rhodesia where they had two sons and two daughters. They moved to Durban in 1999 to retire near to their children and grandchildren. However, their retirement was short-lived. They spotted a book store for sale in Hillcrest and have been working there since they bought it. Adrian is passionate about books, especially war books and Afrikana, so Msasa Books in Hillcrest was a dream job for them. They still go to work six days a week even though Adrian is 86 and Sheila turns 80 in April.
Their secret to surviving the test of time is good eating habits, moderate exercise and hard work. They have always advocated eating the healthiest food – whole grain bread, fresh fruit and vegetables – and getting plenty of sleep. In Zimbabwe they were almost self-sufficient.
They grew all their own vegetables and fruit, had chickens for eggs and a prize dairy herd, making their own cheese and butter. They also made their own bread and kept bees for honey, and even tried to make honey wine (called ‘mead’) and some questionable wine from their own grapes. “My parents’ neighbour sampled it and declared it sour enough to restore her virginity,” laughed their daughter, Helen Cannon.
These days the Vermeulens don’t have the space for farming but their good eating habits endure.
Their family has grown over the years: three of their children live in Durban and one son in London, and they have five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
The Vermeulens will celebrate their diamond jubilee at a private family dinner on Thursday evening.
