Diamond couple mark special anniversary

Cynthia and Roy Voss say that despite 'ripples', they've enjoyed a happy life together. Photo / Supplied

Sixty-two years ago, when Roy Voss met Cynthia for the first time at a Queen Street dance, he took her hand, read the lines on her palm and declared: "I'm going to marry you."

Today, the couple celebrate their diamond anniversary for 60 years of marriage.

Roy was an airforce man, 22-years-old, and Cynthia just 20. They danced at Auckland's popular dance hall, the Metropol, a venue she denies resembled at all the late-night clubs in central Auckland today.

It didn't take long for Roy's palm reading to come true, when wedding bells rang on June 3, 1950, and it remains true still, with the couple happily together in Northland's Waipu Cove.

Twice a week they drive together to the tennis club for a round in the evening; just last night they were out playing bowls.

"Actually, he beat me last night," Cynthia says, but won't admit who wins more often.

"We both have our on days and off days," she says. And that's not just true for bowls - 60 years of marriage could never be ripple-free," she says.

"Nobody can say you don't have your ups and downs in 60 years. There were plenty of those, I guess.

"But it's always been a happy life."

The couple had three children, who had Roy and Cynthia's six grandchildren, and recently they've had three great-grandchildren.

Roy has turned 84 and Cynthia 82 - but they keep up their walks along the beach and their annual holidays.

These days it's to Australia, to escape the worst of the winter - even if it's not too bad in Northland, Cynthia says.

In years past it was journeys across the United States and, in 1990, the year Roy retired, the couple bought a campervan in Europe and explored for four months.

But their best memory in all their years together is the birth of their first grandchild, Cynthia says.

"Our family had all grown up and they didn't need us quite so much anymore. And along came our granddaughter and we shared a lot of time again."

Their son invited them up from Auckland to live in his holiday park in Waipu Cove, and they have been near each other ever since.

And the secret to their marriage's longevity? Roy, for the most part remaining quiet on the speakerphone, pipes up: "Sharing." Cynthia agrees.

Then, once again, Roy speaks out: "Working hard." And again, Cynthia concurs, with a harmony clearly still pleasant after 60 years.

The couple's family has planned an anniversary celebration in Takapuna for June 13.