A ‘beautiful’ celebration for their diamond anniversary

Wes and Lorraine Franks enjoyed celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary with friends and family. Picture supplied

Wainui couple Wes and Lorraine Franks have celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary, but only after their three daughters persuaded them.

“You’ve got to celebrate this!” they said.

The couple were married in 1963 at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Cobden Streeet.

“Respect for each other and compromise,” is what has worked for them, “because 60 years is a long time,” laughed Lorraine.

As was the tradition of the day, a detailed description of the bride’s gown, and her going-away outfit, appeared in the newspaper.

“Her elbow-length veil was held in place with a headpiece of orange blossom. Her gown was of appliqued silk organza over pale magnolia satin.”

The honeymoon outfit was “a black organza coat over a white frock with a cummerbund of Guipure lace”.

Lorraine still has the dress, worn one more time for an ‘M’ themed party, where the couple went as “married”.

Now both in their 80s, they met when Lorraine crawled through the tiny wicket door of Franks Motors to meet a young apprentice motor mechanic called Wes.

The business was owned and run by Wes’s father Cyril.

Unbeknownst to her, Wes had spotted Lorraine who was studying at a night school nearby. He asked a friend to let her know, “there is someone here who would like to meet you”.

They went on to have four children, and now seven grandchildren.  Three daughters live in Gisborne, and their son lives in Canada working as a project manager for a revolutionary windfarm.

“We’ve had a pretty good life,” said Wes.  However, it had not always been smooth sailing.

“There have been a lot of experiences in our life, but we survived them all,” said Lorraine.

Wes’s career path took a few different turns. He returned to college to study accounting but after his father Cyril had a heart attack, Wes took over the business.  The company had a staff of 16 at the time.

When a buyer made a good offer for the business, Wes took it and the couple bought a beef and cattle farm at Ngatapa where they farmed for 20 years.

“We loved it,” said Lorraine.  “It was a great place to bring up the family.”

They had to sell the farm after Wes had a horse-riding accident. They also suffered through the 1987 stock market crash, but managed to come through.

Once the busy role of raising children was completed, Lorraine took on a position as special needs teacher aide at Te Wharau Primary School.  She worked there until her retirement.

Family members travelled from different parts of the country to celebrate the day.  A luncheon was held at The Bushmere Arms, Gisborne, after which guests returned to the Franks’ home to continue with the diamond anniversary celebration.

“It was beautiful,” said Lorraine.