The Brooms sweep us off our feet

It was the spring of 1959 when locals, Roger and Margaret Broom stood at the altar and adoringly looked each other in the eyes and said ‘I do’ in front of their family and friends.

The loving couple, who, come 3 October, will have been married for 60 years, invited Randburg Sun to their Strijdom Park-based family run business where they reflected on the glorious life they have lived thus far together. The two are every bit the image of what you would think an older couple would be. Should the other get a significant memory wrong, the other will promptly correct them. Where one might fall short in recalling something, the other lovingly adds what is missing.

In the year they married, love songs such as Cliff Richard’s Living Doll , the Everly Brothers’ Til I Kissed You and Frankie Avalon’s Venus, were on that year’s top 20 hit singles list. Songs, one would imagine, were playing through Roger’s mind when he saw the love of his life walk down the aisle towards his affectionate smile. They had met three years prior while working in the same office. On one average workday, Rogers eyes just happened to gaze upon something extraordinary. It was Margaret, and from the moment he saw her, Roger new she was someone special.

“I saw her and thought, wow, there is a nice looking girl and went over and asked her out,” he said with a laugh.

Margaret shared at the time of Roger’s advances she had been seeing other men who she soon let go of. One’s inclined to think it was his charm, which is still noticeable, that completely swept her off her feet. In addition to his charm, it must have also been his love for the outdoors. An avid rower, if he was not at his desk he was on the water and if she wasn’t at the office, she could be seen watching him as he rowed passed. For their first date the two enjoyed a day at the circus. As he reflected on why he chose the circus he jokingly said, “I did not know any better.”

On one beautiful morning, the two sailed on Hartbeespoort Dam, and it was on this day that the 25-year-old Roger asked the 24-year-old Margaret if she would marry him. Undoubtedly, she gave the response any girl would happily shout out when the man she loves asks that question, and that was ‘yes’. Three months thereafter they got married on a glorious spring day.

They eventually built their dream home in Blairgowrie where they have lived for 57 years, and raised three children who gave them five grandchildren. Margaret’s advice to young couples is to always give and take and Roger’s is that a man should only have eyes for his wife.

He jokingly added he had learned not to leave the bathroom in a mess, however, Margaret still thinks that Roger is still very untidy.

Related Article: 

https://www.citizen.co.za/randburg-sun/372388/changes-d-books-birth-certificates-home-affairs/