Annelie and Corry Joubert have run Angelo's Pizza, Chicken Burger Bar at Waihī Beach’s shopping area for nearly 20 years. Photo / Rebecca Mauger
They said it wouldn’t last.
Fifty years ago, the parents of Annelie and Corry Joubert and other naysayers were loudly against the union of the South African teenagers.
They thought the marriage would be doomed as they were so young.
“They thought we were not up to it but we proved them all wrong and we have done well for ourselves,” Annelie says.
The Waihī Beach couple married in 1974 and have three children and six grandchildren. They celebrate their golden anniversary on March 2.
Years later, they had to overcome sceptics again when they proposed to open Angelo’s Pizza, Chicken and Burger Bar along Waihī Beach’s Wilson Rd shopping area.
“When we first moved here they said, ‘I give it three months and then you’re gone, you’re a has-been’,” Corry says.
But Angelo’s is one of the longest surviving shops in the area, having been there for nearly 20 years. The couple still live in the flat upstairs and Annelie works in the shop.
They first met at a party in Vanderbijlpark, southwest of Johannesburg, when Annelie was 17 and Corry was 19. Annelie was a friend of Corry’s sister. They danced the night away and then went their separate ways.
Over the next few months, Annelie organised a date with someone else. But it was Corry who showed up and she had to send him on his way.
Apparently, Corry had had Annelie on his mind. The self-professed ladies’ man had dumped his admirers to win over Annelie.
When their paths crossed again, he asked her to the movies and their love story began.
After marriage, Corry trained toan be electrician/millwright and Annelie brought up the children.
Corry had developed a flair for cooking after working alongside his uncle making snacks for drive-through movie-goers.
This led him towards the food industry.
The couple bought their first shop in 1980 and five more followed (they had 33 staff at one point) from 1991-97.
After moving to New Zealand, they bought a Malaysian restaurant, followed by two Angelo’s shops in Waikato. They moved to Waihī Beach in 2005 and concentrated on the one pizza shop with mini putt alongside.
Annelie thinks the secret to a long, happy marriage is honesty and forgiveness. Jokester Corry thinks it’s a few beers every night.
“When we were young, if we had a fight we would not talk to each other for a week,” Annelie says. “But now, if we don’t agree, we get angry and 10 minutes later we forget about it.
“Corry and I are very connected. If he has a soreleg, or a sore eye, the next day I will have the same problem. I don’t know how to explain that but it’s like we connected, we copy-cat each other.”
■ Are you celebrating an upcoming milestone wedding anniversary? Let us know news@katikatiadvertiser.co.nz
Rebecca Mauger is the editor of Katikati Advertiser. She has been with NZME for more than 20 years mostly as a community reporter, but also adwriter, copy-sub and entertainment/lifestyle magazine writer.
"If you’re loyal to them, they will be loyal to you."