Neighbours surprise couple celebrating 50th anniversary
Friends call them the 'loveliest couple around'.
IT was the summer of 1964, January to be exact, when June who was 19 at the time and her friend Joey were strolling on on Durban’s Addington Beach. The friends bumped into Joey’s brother, Chris, a strapping 24 year-year-old.
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It was in that moment that a spark between the two lovebirds was ignited. June, whose maiden surname was Wallace dated for three years before they married on 4 November 1967 in June’s hometown in Messina, Limpopo. Now 50 years on, June 72 and Chris, 77 are well-known in the Durban North community and the spark is still aflame.
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On their marriage and how they have sustained it, Chris said: “We had the good, the bad and the ugly but we have worked through that and still remain devoted to one other,” said Chris.
“We have had our ups and down but we have managed to work together well and our love endures still,” added June. They had two sons, Warren and Vaughn. While raising their children, June owned and ran the popular Veronica’s Florist on Umhlanga Rocks Drive for more than ten years. Chris worked as a furniture store manager.
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They’ve kept the local vibe going and are now running the popular Soap Shop and are not short of friends who call them one of the ‘loveliest couples around’. They two are so popular that what should of been a quiet day at home on Saturday, 4 November to celebrate their wedding anniversary, turned into a massive surprise celebration.
The Smits are so loved and popular that members of the neigbourhood watch in Terrence Drive pitched in to celebrate the special day with a braai at their home. Neighbour and friend, Kerry Haylett said she wanted to treat the couple who in her description, “do so much for everyone else.”
An overwhelmed June had this to say: “We would like to extend our thanks to the whole community for all their phone call and messages and thank our neighbours for the effort they have made in making us feel so special. Chris and I both believe that without our faith in God we would not be here celebrating 50 wonderful years.”
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