TIM and Barbara Jubber, a Waterfall couple, celebrated their golden anniversary recently, surrounded by family, in the beautiful Underberg countryside.
ALSO READ: Hillcrest couple celebrate diamond anniversary
The pair dated for two years before they tied the knot at the Manning Road Methodist Church on a Friday evening on January 7 in 1972.
“I firstly had to ask her father for his daughter’s hand in marriage, but I couldn’t just ask for the hand, so I asked for the hands and feet,” said Tim. He proposed to Barbara at Blue Lagoon, in a car, and she responded with ‘yes’ immediately.
“In those days, we were lucky that the parents were involved in the planning of the wedding. We are grateful that we had our families on board with the planning,” said Barbara.
“We were adamant to marry in January, all the weekends were fully booked, so our wedding had to be on a Friday. We had an evening wedding,” said Barbara.
Their wedding was attended by about 120 close family and friends.
The couple met at church. Barbara said she grew up in the church while Tim only joined the church as an adult. He said he was glad for this as it gave him a chance meeting with the love of his life.
When asked what attracted them to one another, Barbara said it was Tim’s quirky sense of humour and gentleness that stole her heart, while Tim, to this day, adores Barbara’s bubbly and outgoing personality.
“I’m very reserved, especially around new people. Having my wife around always minimised the awkwardness I would feel if I was meeting new people alone,” said Tim.
After they tied the knot, the couple immersed themselves into their careers.
Barbara was a bookkeeper for 15 years. “I left my bookkeeping job to start a family and, after nine years dedicated to the kids, I went back to working full-time again,” said Barbara.
Barbara took up a post at her church and has been working there for the past 24 years.
Tim, a chartered accountant, worked for the University of KwaZulu-Natal for more that 20 years and now, after a couple of years of retirement, he works as a roving accountant for different industries.
The Upper Highway residents moved to Waterfall six years ago to downsize, and to be closer to their daughter and grandchildren.
The Jubbers have three children, Richard, Linda and Alastair, and four grandchildren.
“Both our sons have relocated. Richard moved to Johannesburg and Alastair lives abroad,” explained Barbara.
When asked what has kept them together for 50 years, they attributed their bond to their strong belief to honouring their vows.
“Its very important to accept and respect the other person for who they are,” said Barbara.
Tim added that a sense of humour also helped.
* Notice: Coronavirus reporting at Caxton Local Media aims to combat fake news
Dear reader, As your local news provider, we have the duty of keeping you factually informed on Covid-19 developments. As you may have noticed, mis- and disinformation (also known as “fake news”) is circulating online. Caxton Local Media is determined to filter through the masses of information doing the rounds and to separate truth from untruth in order to keep you adequately informed. Local newsrooms follow a strict pre-publication fact-checking protocol. A national task team has been established to assist in bringing you credible news reports on Covid-19. Readers with any comments or queries may contact National Group Editor Irma Green (irma@caxton.co.za) or Legal Adviser Helene Eloff (helene@caxton.co.za).