Diamond wedding anniversary couple's advice ‘Be kind to each other and have a good heart’

Honking horns and cheers from well-wishers greeted Des (83) and Olive (82) Smyth on Saturday in Navan when they stepped outside their home to a welcome surprise this week.

It was all part of a coordinated drive-by anniversary parade so friends and family could pay a visit from their vehicles to celebrate the couple’s 60th diamond wedding anniversary on September 19th while still respecting the COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing.

“I was shocked,” Des said with a laugh when he saw the festive entourage drive past his home.

"We knew the kids were coming and I was waiting for them and I had an auld pair of boots on me and I said sure there's no use in changing them I'll only be standing in behind a wall and that's how I went out when the gang came, I couldn't believe it when I saw all of the cars."

The surprise was organised by the couple’s eight children to mark the incredible milestone.

Des and Olive (Ollie) who both grew up in Emmet Terrace in Navan and have been pioneers their whole lives met on Friday, 13th July 1958 at a Cortown dance, unlucky for some but not for this loving couple as Des explains:

"It only feels like yesterday, I was 23 and Olive was 21.

"I was playing in the band that night. I remember the first time I saw her well. My first cousin was working in the carpet factory along with Olive and he told me this girl wanted to talk to me so when the band had a break I went down and gave her a dance and we have been together ever since."

Des has been a musician all his life, he started his music career in a Navan band called the Arcadians, founded by his eldest brother Jim.

They travelled the length and breadth of Ireland as a show band playing in halls and hotels and also covered England. Des then years later started up his own band, “The Navan Swing Band” where he played saxophone.

He also had one of his own sons in the band, Oliver who played keyboard.

Des is currently jamming away with other musicians on a Wednesday evening in Trim, where he leaves his saxophone at home and plays bass, an instrument he would have played in his younger days.

Ollie was daughter to Mattie and Bridie Rogers, her father would go down in history for his talents of a GAA footballer known as the famous “Buller Rogers” this is where Ollie got her love for the game.

Always a true Meath supporter, she even encouraged Des to go to games in their courting days and since then they have rarely missed a game.

They would drive the length of Ireland to see Meath playing, even when the team weren’t doing so well, they would go hail, rain or sunshine to these matches.

They married on 19th September 1960 and lived in Navan for a short time after getting married but built their house out in Boyertown in the early 60s and had eight children, Eilish, Breege, Dessie, Tommy, Oliver, Matthew, Francis and Helen.

They have 22 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. If you were to ask Des and Ollie what they love, you would be guaranteed that both of them would say they live for their children, grandkids and great-grandkids.

“I don’t think there has been a grandchild they haven’t babysat or minded over the years, said daughter Helen.

The couple says the secret to a long, happy marriage is “to be kind to each other and have a good heart.”