THE love story of Stuart and Wilma Martin, who celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on September 15, is one of separation and reconciliation.
Stuart Martin met Wilma, nee Morris, at a Naval function in December 1972. He was serving in the British Royal Navy and was in the Durban harbour, having travelled from the Beira Naval Patrol (Mozambique for the Rhodesian Blockade).
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There was no attraction at first, but Stuart contacted Wilma the following day and arranged a date. The day after the date, he was off again. A month later, Stuart returned to Durban and got in contact with her. They spent a week together and, in that week, they got engaged before he flew back to the United Kingdom (UK). However, Wilma led him on and was not planning to marry him.
She was to fly to the UK on September 1, 1973. The day she left, her family had to push her onto the plane as she did not want to get married. At that time, they’d only known each other for three weeks out of the nine months of their relationship.
They were married on September 15, 1973, in Plymouth, England, Stuart’s hometown. They lived there until April 1975 and returned to South Africa when he completed his Naval time. At this time, Wilma was seven and a half months pregnant with their son, Mark. They moved to the Amanzimtoti area in 1976 where Stuart worked at Illovo Sugar Mill.
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In 1979, they got divorced and were separated for 18 months. Both came to Christ during that time. According to them, once Christ took control of their lives, he told both of them at different places on the same day that they needed to reconcile, which they did in 1981. They then had their daughter, Danielle, a year later.
It was later discovered that their divorce was never recorded in the UK. In their eyes, although there was a separation in South African civil law, the UK marriage was under the Word of God and never dissolved.
From then on, the couple were called into the ministry. They opened a church in Scottburgh, and they travelled to the UK, Zimbabwe, Malawi and the South Coast, ministering and restoring churches. They are still active in assisting the ministry at their current church.
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In the meantime, Wilma worked at several retailers in Amanzimtoti and ended her working career at Rehoboth Christian School and retired at the end of 2002. Stuart worked at Toyota for 26 years and retired at the end of 2008.
They have two grandchildren, Emma-Lee and Josh. Both Mark and Danielle, along with their spouses and children, reside in the Westville/Pinetown area.
In the end, their daughter described it as a love story made in heaven.
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