"When he came home the first time in 1944, we got engaged on my 21st birthday. When he got called back again I wasn't very happy," says Myra.

"Myra was 16 and I was 19, but the funny thing is that I was only there a year before I joined the army. We had a bit of a party before I left and she said that I'd better write. I didn't think she meant for me to write to her because she said 'us'," says Rollie.

Rollie served a total of five years and ten days in the armed services. The couple wrote every week, but storing away the letters led to some funny moments.

"I put them all in a shoe box and stored them away. For many years after we were married we could hear the kids giggling like mad in the room. They'd found the shoe box and were reading our letters. "I growled at them, took all the letters outside and they met a fiery exit. I was annoyed, - I thought they were private. Rollie didn't even know I'd kept them all," Myra says.

After the war things were pretty tight, but the social side of life was so much more pronounced than it is today.

"There was no TV and we used to do so much more together. You had good friends. You had a lot more people come to your house. "The Tokaora district used to have its hall where people would meet. There were 14 farms in the district back then, now there are only four and no hall.

"The Women's Division used to be a great thing in those days. They'd have all their meetings and functions there. It used to be the focal point of the district."

Myra's singing has been an integral part of the couple's lives and she is proud she has never charged for her services. Rollie says she could have gone far if she'd wanted to.

"Myra got a singing bursary when she was 18. I had my cricket and she had her singing. That kept everyone pretty busy. She still takes the RSA choirs and visits all the homes."

Rolly is a 1ife member of the South Taranaki Cricket Association and played until he was 50. He regrets the demise of cricket these days. "I remember going to King Edward Park and there'd be three senior teams playing, but now there'd only be one. I think it's got to do with Saturday work and the demise of the small clubs throughout the district."

Secrets to the couple's success over their 60 years are hard to define, but tolerance has been one area of note.

"I think he's been tolerant, especially about my music," Myra says. "It's been an all-time thing. He used to stay home and look after the kids. In one year I performed at 13 weddings. I had to buy all different hats as I didn't want to wear the same one twice. I supported him in his cricket, I really got to enjoy it."

District News "Hawera Star" Craig Jeffrey May 2006

Celebrating 65 years of marriage

Honeymoon at Rotorua

Roly and Myra Hughes will have some special guests at their 65 wedding anniversary celebrations today. "We've been married 65 years and every member of our wedding party is still alive - that's the real achievement," Mrs Hughes, 87, said.

The Hughes are excited to be having dinner with some of the original wedding party and around 15 family members this evening to mark the occasion.

Mr Hughes has spoilt his wife with some understated and "classic" blue sapphires to mark the occasion. Blue sapphires are considered the traditional gift for a 65-year anniversary.

"Time is funny, I don't know where it goes. I can't say I feel physically old," Mrs Hughes said.
The Hughes, who got together before World War II, and married soon after, kept their love alive by writing each other hundreds of letters.

Mrs Hughes said "giving up" on each other had never been an option. Whenever the pair have had a dispute, they have talked and worked it out together. "I don't think any of us would've divorced in the old days," Mrs Hughes said. "What I'd say, if you are in discontent with one another, talk it over and most times it can be resolved." For now they agree they are happy living each day as it comes and looking forward to their 70th anniversary

PETRA FINER/Taranaki Daily News 7/5/2011

Roly and Myra's family:

for family photos