Couple still dance with delight after 60 years

They survived the earthquake and the war, danced their way to the aisle of St Matthews Anglican church in Hastings and 60 years later they're still kicking up their heels. Earlier this month, Toby and Lillian Hantler celebrated 60 years of marriage with a very low-key family get together.
In fact, it was not too dissimilar to their wedding reception all those years ago.
"January 8 1946. It was all very quiet, we had about 30 guests, finished with a cup of tea at my family's house and that was it," Mrs Hantler said.
"We were married as soon as I came back from the war, I didn't even have time to get me a suit," Mr Hantler added.
The couple met when then Miss Roach was on a bike ride with a schoolmate from Central Hawke's Bay college.
She bumped into Mr Hantler while he was camping with other boys from Havelock North High School on Haumoana Beach
"It was nothing special really. We met, started to go dancing together and somehow we ended up married," Mr Hantler said in his modest manner.
Dancing became something of a habit for the two and they were on the way to a dance in the Havelock North assembly hall when Mr Hantler proposed.
"He just said, 'let's get married',"the happy bride recalled.
"I'm a man of few words my love," he added.
"I must have said yes," she said.
"I suppose so. You've got the ring to prove it,"Mr Hantler said with a grin.
The great grandparents, who are pushing 82 but look a decade younger, were separated right after the engagement when Mr Hantler was drafted into the navy as a seaman during the war.
The committed couple kept in touch through letters. Mrs Hantler said although it was hard at times, there was never time to think of the worst.
"If I thought that maybe he wouldn't come home, I wouldn't have got through it," she said.
Two years later in October 1945, Mr Hantler returned home and they were married within three months.
As soon as the happy couple had settled into their first house in Ada Street in Hastings, they began to fill it with children.
They now have two sons and two daughters living in Perth, Australia, and two more sons in Hawke's Bay, one of which lives in the Ada street property.
They also have 11 grandchildren and six great grandchildren who are "all very caring and loving and keep us feeling fresh," Mrs Hantler said.
Mr Hantler was a self-employed decorating contractor, while his wife was a stay-at-home mum who also had a talent for dressmaking and often made the children's clothes.
The couple now live a quiet life on Kingsgate Avenue in Havelock North, in a house Mr Hantler built himself with the help of one of his sons.
Since retiring seven years ago he has spent his time pottering around the garden while Mrs Hantler has spends her time making porcelain dolls and quilts with a group of friends.
Communication and compromise have been essential to this long-lived marriage.
And lengthy marriages are a family trait.
Mr Hantler's parents were married for over 40 years, his brother has been married for 53 years and his sister has also been married for 60 years.
"That proves we Hantlers are just very reliable," Mr Hantler said.