Horowhenua StarThere is a date that will always be special in the lives of well-known Levin couple John and Beth Berry – August 27.
John Berry first met eyes with Beth Hiles-Smith at a dance on August 27, 1954. They were married a year later to the day – August 27, 1955.
Now, 70 years later they are about to celebrate their platinum wedding, so named as a symbol of strength and endurance.
John and Beth Berry today, and on their wedding day, August 27, 1955.
“Beth sure is a nice girl!” John had noted in his diary.
Recent photo Paul Williams
Growing up near Whanganui, Beth wanted to be a school dental nurse. John, who grew up in Lower Hutt, wanted to be a pharmacist.
Coincidentally, they both studied for their respective vocations in Wellington and for almost a year lived a short walk from each other, although their paths never crossed.
On graduating Beth found placement at Manaia and Patea in Taranaki before taking a position at Gonville, Whanganui.
In 1953, after four years of study, John received a job offer in Tauranga with pharmacist Phil Wade, who was married to Beth’s older sister, Marie.
John was invited to a ball, but he needed a partner. Marie mentioned her younger sister, Beth, would be visiting in the school holidays and suggested she could ask Beth “to bring her ball gown”? He agreed without hesitation.
John and Beth hit it off instantly and spent the night talking and laughing. They went to the movies the next night to see The Glenn Miller Story and dated again the following night before Beth returned to Whanganui.
John has always kept a dairy and the entry that night read: “Beth sure is a nice girl!”
“I think after that weekend we’d both felt we’d met our life’s partner,” he says.
They exchanged letters twice weekly and visited each other’s homes and family. They were officially engaged in January with plans to marry at Whanganui a year to the day after they had first met.
After 10 years in Wairoa the family moved to Levin in 1964, where John’s parents were living, and Beth’s parents later moved from Whanganui to Levin, too.
“We decided we would like to practise in a small town where we knew the people we were serving,” he says.
The couple bought a pharmacy at 192 Oxford Street that had been run since the 1920s by the late William Donnelly, the beginning of 60 years of pharmaceutical service in Levin.
The pharmacy moved to Levin Shopping Mall premise in 1971, opening a photography business adjunct. They opened Tararua Pharmacy in Queen Street in 1997.
A large part of their working life was as a team, too, as Beth joined the pharmacy as retail and staff manager in 1980. At peak times they employed as many as 20 staff. Their three children – David, Alison and Philip – all worked for the pharmacy during their teenage years.
Aside from being well known through the pharmacy, the couple have both been heavily involved in serving on many community and volunteer groups.
Now both in their early 90s, John and Beth are honest in saying marriage isn’t always sunshine and roses. It takes love, commitment, patience and understanding.
They plan to celebrate the milestone with a gathering of family and friends.
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