LOCAL love birds Guiseppe and Rosemarie Silvestri, who celebrate 66 years of marriage on August 31, attribute their long and happy marriage to the fact that they have always been best friends. “My secret is that I am a ‘yes’ man, no questions asked, and that I love Rosemarie very much,” said Guiseppe, smiling. Rosemarie agrees, saying that her secret was the fact that Guiseppe always said yes to everything she wanted and that his love for her was reciprocated. “I love him very much,” she said.
When Guiseppe (91) first saw Rosemarie (84), he thought she was extremely pretty but very young. “My first impression was definitely love at first sight. In fact, I told my sister and friends, ‘He is mine’ and to lay off,” said Rosemarie, laughingly recalling the couple’s first meeting. Within 20 months of meeting each other, they got engaged and later married at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Stamford Hill Road. Ten months later, their firstborn, Angela, arrived and was followed three years later by a son, Riccardo.
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The couple started out in a small apartment in Umkomaas on the South Coast. Having a lively daughter, they decided a house would be a better option, and in 1972, they moved into their family home in Durban where they lived up until mid-2022. They have since moved into the Upper Highway area of Winston Park. Italy-born Guiseppe came to South Africa as a young man of 22 years old, like many other Italians, on a work contract. He started work at the paper-mill factory SAICORR in Umkomaas and remembers his wages were 3 shillings and 9 pence an hour. Rosemarie went to Business College for one year, but her business career, she says, was short-lived as her goal was to marry Guiseppe as quickly as possible. She did do a bit of modelling and dancing, but when their children came along, she became a full-time mom.
“I had no time for hobbies when I was younger as I worked so much overtime. But since retiring at the age of 62, I have had a lot of hobbies. I make model airplanes from World War I out of any junk I can find, I enjoy gardening and cooking and I love to read, and of course, watch TV and make Rosemarie lots and lots of cups of tea,” said Guiseppe.
“My hobbies were sewing and knitting but when the grandchildren arrived, I devoted all of my time to help look after them. My daughter was fortunate enough to find a house right next door to us which made life so much easier,” said Rosemarie.
The couple has five grandchildren, Riccardo, Tanya, Roberto, Francesca and Gina. They also have six great-grandchildren, Liam, Mason, Sofia, Aria, Isla and Leonardo. Their grandchildren and great-grandchildren have become the centre of their world, and they say they love babysitting.
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Guiseppe believes he has been extremely blessed with good health and having such a gorgeous wife by his side for 66 years. “Rosemarie has been a most wonderful wife and fantastic grandmother and great-grandmother to all the kids. I am especially proud of how she has saved my hard-earned money for us to live so comfortably and not rely on anyone for help. She does sometimes drive me crazy, but our love is so strong that we can overcome anything. All in all, a very good life,” he said.
“It has been the most wonderful, wonderful journey of my life. I sometimes feel that I don’t deserve him, with all my worries and anxieties, but he is always there to console me and tell me not to worry. I still get butterflies when I am near him and still think of him as my Umbilo man, which is where I lived as a young girl. I am so emotional and overwhelmed that we have been granted, by the good Lord, our 66 years together. We are most definitely aiming to make our 70th anniversary together. God willing,” said Rosemarie.
Their daughter, Angela, said, “I feel so, so blessed to have had my mom and dad living next door to me for the past 37 years now. It has been so amazing, and they are now in a garden cottage on our property since moving to Winston Park in mid-2022. We all just love them to bits and are very proud of them. They have been very generous in giving their time to us.”
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