Bluff couple celebrates golden wedding anniversary

WHEN Willem du Preez first laid eyes on Lynnette more than five decades ago, it was love at first sight. He instantly knew that she would be his wife.

Du Preez, 71, and Lynnette, 68, who live on The Bluff, celebrated their golden wedding anniversary on December 6. The couple had both been living in De Aar in the Northern Cape when they first met in 1970.

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Du Preez, who was 18 years old at the time, said he had been walking home from work one day, when he spotted 16 year old Lynnette.

“She was standing at the door, while her brother was working in their yard. When I looked at her, my heart began to race, she was so beautiful. I stopped and asked her brother if I could visit his sister, and he agreed. I was so happy,” he said.

Lynnette said she was shy at first but also fell in love with Du Preez.

“He had the most beautiful blue eyes and the brightest smile. We became very close, and he would visit every day. There were some nights when his mother would have to come fetch him, with a torch, because he needed to sleep as he had to go to work the next day,” she said.

Lynnette said her family moved back to Durban in 1971, and Du Preez left to join the army for a year.
“We would communicate via letters and saw each other twice that year. It was difficult but our love for each other just grew stronger,” she said.

Du Preez, who worked for Transnet for 44 years, said in 1972, a month after Lynnette turned 18, they got married in the Durban Magistrates Court, and returned to De Aar.

“I had already rented out a house for us, and had it fully-furnished. I ensured that my wife would never have to want for anything,” he said.

The couple went on to have three sons,Willem,48, Stephen, 46, and Leon, 44. Lynnette, said like every relationship there were disagreements, but they always worked through them.

“We never swore each other or said hurtful things no matter how upset we was. We always believed that it is important to communicate, right till this day. I remember if I was upset, Willem will never go to work or bed until I was smiling again,” she said.

The couple added that it was important to love, and respect your partner, and to always be faithful.
To celebrate their anniversary, the couple cut a cake with their children at home.

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