Strong Voices

Roy and Val Schroder were childhood sweethearts. They met when they travelled together by taxi to Bronte School in Nelson.

Roy was five and Valmai was 12 and they became good friends. By the time he was a teenager, the age difference didn’t deter Roy from telling his mother, “I am going to marry that girl one day”.

He meant it too. In April the Nelson couple celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary with family and friends and former staff at the Richmond Country Club restaurant. “It was quite a late night. It was quite good,” Roy says.

Val now wears a new ruby ring from Roy to celebrate their ‘Ruby’ anniversary. “Me and my sister jacked that up.”

Fate played its part in their relationship. Later, when both families were looking for services for Val and Roy they ended up living in the same accommodation at Baigent House, a new facility opened by IHC. Val has been receiving services from IHC since 1975 and Roy from 1980.

“They moved into that facility in 1980,” says Kim Martin, Service Manager for IDEA Services. “The relationship started to bloom.”

Roy says: “I proposed to her nicely and asked her if she would like to marry me, and she said yes.

“I needed a life of my own. I just hated being single and she did too.”

After Roy and Val were engaged, later in 1980, they moved to their own home together. Roy’s parents were initially reluctant at the prospect of them marrying, but Roy’s sister, Charmaine, was a strong advocate for the pair and the wedding took place in 1984.

Kim says Roy and Val are a tight couple. “They are predominantly independent but have a support team to come in three times a week.”

Roy says he and Val have help with food. “We do all right for ourselves. During the week staff cook it and we can do the rest.”

They are both retired now but have a career of hard work behind them. For a time they worked on the farm at Baigent House, then Val left to make wooden toys at the Bolt Road workshop at T?hunanui. Roy was handy with a lawn mower so he did the lawns. He worked for a time for Nelson City Council doing maintenance work at Founders Heritage Park.

“I am doing a lot of firewood over the weekends with Wayne. We have got our own wood splitter.” Wayne is Roy’s brother and they grew up together.

To relax, Roy likes to catch up with old mates for a drink at the pub on a Wednesday. Val makes blankets or booties for those who need them. She is also a great fan of ‘diamond art’ painting.

To celebrate their anniversary, IDEA Services Area Manager Paul Severn and Kim visited with flowers and a cake. “They were beaming,” Kim says. “It’s not every day you are celebrating the anniversary of two amazing humans that have an intellectual disability. This is their time to shine.”

Above: Val and Roy Schroder celebrate 40 great years.