Celebrating: NZ’s Longest AND Oldest Married Couple

Media Release 6 June 2016
Auckland couple Jeram and Ganga Ravji who were awarded Family First’s Longest Married Couple Award for 2016 earlier this year are now also NZ’s oldest married couple, both having just turned 100.
Mr and Mrs Ravji celebrated their 81st wedding anniversary in April, and both turned 100 in May and June respectively. Mrs Javji is 100 today (6 June). Part of their award as the longest married couple in NZ was a family photo shoot by Susanna Burton Photography in Auckland. The photo canvas was presented to the couple this weekend by National Director of Family First NZ, Bob McCoskrie.
Both Mr and Mrs Ravji have received letters from the Queen for their 100th birthdays, and also from the Prime Minister John Key.
Together they have 6 children, and 15 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren all living in Auckland.
“Mr and Mrs Ravji are a national treasure! We honour their lives, marriage, and family,” says Mr McCoskrie.
We asked them how to make a strong marriage that lasts. Mrs Ravji said “that in a long marriage there’s been lots of sacrifices, and she’s concerned that the young ones can’t tolerate anything and can’t make sacrifices. They have learnt to tolerate each other. She said that in every life, God’s given good and the bad and you have to work through it. They’ve had a long life and they’ve always had their ups and downs and it hasn’t been a bed of roses – lots of tragedies – but you have to live with it, and work through it. Their parents instilled in them ‘this is the way to do it and this is what you have to do’, and they listened to their parents – they never questioned them. The parents gave them advice and they just followed it, even if they didn’t like it. They knew that their parents knew better than them and wanted the best for them.”
Related: NZ’s Longest Married Couple 2016 – Almost 81 Years
ENDS