Wehrles share wisdoms after reeling in 61 years of marriage

Alf (88) and Barbara Wehrle (87) celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary on Thursday, 8 February. Alf forbade Barbara from contacting the SUN for their 60th last year but this year she decided their news had to be publicised and it was worth disobeying him.

The pair met when they both worked on the railways in Cato Creek in 1948. “We dated on and off for a long time, going dancing, to the bioscope and for meals, before we got serious and decided to get married in 1957,” she said. “Everyone was convinced we belonged together. We worked in the same building and we saw each other every day.

READ ALSO: Fishing runs through 83-year-old’s veins

Alf was born in Malvern, Johannesburg and Barbara in Umzinto. “Barbara lived in Greyville and I used to take the train there and back to visit her. I would often get home at 3am,” said Alf, who has never driven in his life.

He went on to work at AECI, while Barbara did office work after they were married in Durban court. “I didn’t want anything fancy, so we had a small reception at Sons of England recreational hall in then Smith Street,” said Barbara.

READ ALSO: True love endures more than six decades for Amanzimtoti couple

Alf had moved to Toti from Johannesburg in 1938 and his bride followed him after they were married. They have five children – Mary-Ann (60), Vernon (59), Raymond (57), Victor (56) and Neil (55) and the pair have been blessed with 10 grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

Alf fondly describes his diminutive partner as “bossy, like her mother”. They attribute their love of fishing as the glue that has held their marriage together and Barbara was quick to point out she still holds the family record for her 86-pound (39kg) dagga salmon catch. She started fishing at the age of eight and Alf as a little boy. Everyone in their family, except for Mary-Ann, fishes.

SEE THESE PHOTOS: A beautiful Tuesday morning on Warners Rocks…

Their advice for newly-wed couples? “You get married, you stay married. There’s no running around, painting the town red. That’s what I told my own boys,” said Barbara. And Alf’s take? A man of few words, he reckons: “There’s nothing you can tell them. Let them do their own thing – they don’t listen anyway.”