“We both grew up in the area,” says Mrs Fleetwood. “I was from Bucklands Beach and Frank was from Musick Point.”
Frank says he fell in love with Barbara and spent the next year courting his ballroom dancing champion before “plucking up the courage” to ask her father for her hand in marriage.
“I always did the dishes after a meal and Barbara’s father Percy was helping me, so I took the opportunity to ask,” says Frank.
“Percy turned to me and said, ‘Oh, she’s made up her bloody mind has she’.”
Frank, who proposed in December 1947, says when she replied yes he was “on top of the world.”
Barbara’s father Percy Jones was the founding president of the Pakuranga Rugby Club and the first commodore of the Bucklands Beach Yacht Club.
“On my wedding day a taxi driver drove me around the beach front and I felt like the Queen, everyone knew who I was,” says Barbara.
The couple moved to Wellington after Frank sealed a radio station job. He was also one of the leading morse code examiners in New Zealand and, many years later, Frank’s name was put forward as Manukau City’s volunteer of the year.
Barbara says aside from the fact Frank was “nice looking and had a lovely flower garden”, the success of their 60-year marriage is having a lot of tolerance and a shared love for music.
“I’m a bit lacking in tolerance at times, but we both loved music,” says Barbara.
Frank, a musician and romantic, says he couldn’t have survived without her. “She’s beautiful, caring and a very good cook. She brings me breakfast in bed at 7.20 in the morning.”
They have recorded several songs together over the years. Their favourite, I Can’t Give You Anything But Love Baby is a special number.
The couple have three children, Debbie, Dale and David, four grandchildren and three great grand-children.
