Now aged 81 and 88, their love story has grown quietly across their lifetime. They first met in Ōtāne when Norma was 8, and Jim was a teenager.
“He was mates with my brother … He was always at my mum’s and dad’s, and we became like brother and sister,” she said.
Jim became part of the family, drinking beer with her father on Sundays, joining holidays, and attending gatherings.
“Everybody thought he was mum’s and dad’s son. He was always there,” Norma said.
There was no romance between them, though, and Norma married at 19 and had three children.
Jim married too and had a daughter of his own.
But they remained close, and Jim was even an usher at Norma’s first wedding, while she was friends with his wife.
Their families often spent summers in neighbouring caravans at Clifton.
“We’ve been family forever. We were brought up together,” Jim said.
It wasn’t until their 40s, when both were single, that things changed.
Norma’s parents nudged her.
“Dad said, ‘Why don’t you cotton on to Jim? He’ll look after you.’”
A weekend trip to Taupō marked the turning point. Jim invited her along, they spent some time together, and their first kiss came after a family wedding.
Norma admits she made the first move.
“And we’ve been together ever since,” she said.
Norma says they are “soulmates”.
These days, the couple’s routine starts with morning tea together.
“We sit here and chat … and then he does beautiful colouring in … he does mandalas and flowers, and he always asks me what colours I want,” Norma says.
“We have lunch together, we have dinner together, we watch the news together … We just like being together.”
Norma and Jim at Radius Hampton Court, spending the afternoon together while Jim works on his colouring. Photo / Rafaella Melo
For nearly three years Jim lived at Hampton Court before Norma moved in permanently last month. Staff say he brightened noticeably when she arrived.
“He used to ring me every day,” Norma said.
“He’d tell the boys at the table, ‘I’m off to ring the war office.’ He missed me.”
The pair has no plans for Valentine’s Day. Norma said they are not the type for traditional celebrations, but while there are no grand romantic gestures, Jim has always found his own way to surprise her.
“One day he asked what I wanted for Christmas, and I said, ‘a grizzly bear’, and he bought one,” Norma recalled.
“It cost $100, and he’s big. He’s laid on our bed forever. We call him Grizz.”
For a milestone birthday, Jim went further, commissioning a handmade witch on a broom, complete with horsehair and a handcrafted handle.
“The witch is a really special gift. He came home and said, ‘look at this’, and he had a blanket on the back seat, he took the blanket out, ‘tah-dah!’, and I was like, ‘Oh well. She’s beautiful and ugly at the same time’. And she’s still hanging up in the bedroom in our home,” Norma said.
“That’s Jim. Not flowers … but something you’d never expect.”
The handmade witch Jim commissioned for Norma’s milestone birthday, one of his most ‘unexpected’ romantic gestures.
For him, that was romance.
“He is a very good dad, and very patient with me … he has always been there for me.”
And that is what the couple believe is the secret to a long-standing relationship.
“Just doing things together and being there for each other,” Norma says.
Jim nods.
“We always liked doing things together. We had no secrets, we were always there for each other and for our family,” Jim said.