A 70 year love story

Murray Petterson first spied Glynne in Takaka. The next 70-odd years has seen them travel the world, raise children and even win the off TV game show. Judene Edgar hears more about this epic love story ahead of Valentine's Day this month.

Murray Petterson still remembers the day that he saw “this lovely girl mounting the steps to enter the Junction Hotel” in Takaka. It was 1952, he’d recently started working for the BNZ as a bank clerk, and he was biking to work. “I asked my friend Andy Joseph who she was. He didn’t know, but he said he’d find out.” And sure enough, Andy came through and introduced Murray to Glynne Rose from Wakefield; she was in Takaka for the school holidays visiting her grandparents who ran the Junction Hotel.

Their courtship lasted five years, but with none of the typical town hall dances or movies, instead, it consisted primarily of letter-writing. “You couldn’t ring each other either,” says Glynne. “It was a toll call to ring Takaka.” Thankfully, the next year Murray was transferred to the Nelson BNZ branch, and Glynne was working for Kingsford & Son photographic studio, so they got to spend some time together. However, that was short-lived, as later that year Murray went to Burnham Military Camp for Compulsory Military Training. Now working for the Brightwater telephone exchange, Glynne managed to get a transfer to Riccarton to be near him. “When we weren’t together, I’d write him every day and post him the newspaper too.”

June 1956, Glynne’s 21^st birthday was celebrated with a big party in the Wakefield Hall. Her uncle arranged for Keith Reynish to come and play at her birthday. However, Glynne and Murray had a secret that they had to hold onto until later that night, and luckily no one spotted the engagement ring sparkling on her finger. Finally, when it came time for the speeches, her father announced their engagement to the delighted crowd. “Everyone rushed up to congratulate us; it was really great,” says Glynne.

Later that year Murray was transferred yet again, this time to Lower Hutt. The challenge was to be living in the same town once they got married. “In country towns, bank managers lived on the premises, so I went in to see the manager and asked if there were any bank buildings with accommodation for a young couple,” recalls Murray. A new bank was being built in Wellsford, so this was offered to them. Nearly 80km north of Auckland’s city centre, in 1957 Wellsford was a rural service town. “We didn’t have a clue where it was,” says Glynne.

They were married 11 May 1957 at St John’s Church in Wakefield by Reverend Dalby, with the reception at Wakefield Hall – an impressive 65 years ago. “It was quite a big wedding with a three-tier wedding cake,” says Glynne. Friends lent them their home in Glenhope for the weekend for their honeymoon, not before setting up a huge confetti trap for them when they entered the house. They shifted to Wellsford to start married life, determined not to be separated again.

In 1958 they had their first child, Sue, and bought a 1929 Model A 2-seater (with a dickey seat). For the new family of three this was perfect, if not a little cosy, until their first son Craig came along in 1960 facilitating an upgrade to a Hillman, and then a Ford Consul. However, when they transferred to Pukekohe the next year, they sold the Consul to provide the deposit for their first house. Their third child Debbie, was born in Pukekohe in 1962, but the next year Murray decided to leave the banking industry, so they shifted back to the Nelson region so that Murray could take up a role with AMP selling insurance. They bought a house in Motueka and both settled into their new jobs, Glynne getting a job at Drummond’s pharmacy until welcoming child number four, Jason, in 1965.

‘It’s in the Bag’ was a long-running New Zealand radio show beginning in 1954, and in 1973 became a television game show hosted by Selwyn Toogood. While living in Wellsford, Murray and Glynne had attended the radio show live, and once it became a TV show, “we watched it religiously,” says Murray. “I’ve always loved crosswords, code crackers, quizzes, anything where you learn and challenge yourself”. Unlike other game shows, instead of being filmed in a single studio the show went on the road to a different town each week and the set was assembled into a local venue. The contestants were locals selected from the audience by a pre-show qualifying process of answering three questions. If all three questions were answered correctly, the contestant had the chance to play for "the money or the bag", with the contestant able to choose from thirty bags. While living in Motueka, the family went to see the show recorded at the Trafalgar Centre and Murray was selected from the audience. “I won a dishwasher,” he says, “but we gave it to the local bowling club to wash the glasses.”

Fifteen years later while living in Waikanae, ‘It’s in the Bag’ was coming to record in Ohakea, and this time Murray had a premonition that he’d win. “I was playing cricket all day in Paraparaumu but I had to get to Ohakea [100 km away] by 7pm, so I had to change out of my whites on the side of the road behind the car. They were calling for people to try out as I ran in the door. I made it through the first round and was offered $300 or the bag – I chose the bag – a toy aeroplane.”

In the final round, one of the previously-appearing contestants would be randomly selected to compete – and Murray’s number came up. “It came down to a play-off and we went back and forth until one of us was victorious.” As predicted, Murray won, taking with him a one-month trip to Europe worth $21,000 plus $5,000 spending money and a camera. “I still have the video because I set it up to record before leaving home since I knew I was going to win. I even told two of my friends about my premonition before I went because I didn’t think people would believe me otherwise.”

Glynne says that their wanderlust has taken them all over New Zealand and even overseas, working a wide range of roles from bank clerk to owning a general store, insurance, gardening, orcharding, nursing care and looking after houses and even a farm in England. “We’ve always worked well together,” says Murray. For Glynne, an avid gardener, her dream role was in Wellington looking after the garden of Barbara and James Matthews, the founders and editors of the ‘New Zealand Gardener’ magazine. “It was such a great job. She had the most beautiful garden. She wouldn’t let anyone else touch it.”

But after 65 years, 17 house shifts, 4 children, 13 grandchildren, and 7 great-grandchildren, Murray and Glynne say that they wouldn’t change a thing. “We’ve done a lot, we’ve travelled, we’ve had a great time, and we still love each other just as much today as when we married,” says Glynne. And while she says that it’s natural to disagree, the key to a good marriage is “making sure that you work everything out”. “It’s give and take. You need to compromise. I’m usually right but occasionally I have to concede I’m wrong,” says Murray, with his tongue firmly in his cheek! Clearly a good sense of humour helps too!