Cork couple celebrate milestone 65th wedding anniversary surrounded by family 

A love story that began 70 years ago when Denis (Dennie) Higgins spotted Chrissie at Lennox’s chip shop was celebrated at Nemo Rangers in Cork at the weekend.

Dennie and Chrissie Higgins celebrated 65 years of marriage with their six children, 14 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren on Saturday.

When Dennie first saw Chrissie, he asked a neighbour if she would arrange for Chrissie to come to a Christmas panto with him. Chrissie met him at the panto and the rest is history.

Dennie, who celebrated his 86th birthday back in May, was 16 when he first laid eyes on then-15-year-old Chrissie, who turns 85 this Christmas.

Speaking to The Echo about the wedding anniversary celebration, their daughter Denise Brady said: “They’re celebrating 65 years together on July 30 but we said we would celebrate on the weekend, with people coming from England.

“We had a caterer come into Nemo and the grandkids put together a playlist of all their favourite songs, including the ‘Candy Store’ —my dad always sings that to my mom. At every party, ‘Candy Store’ is the song he sings to her because they met and married so young.”

Ms Brady said her dad “sang his heart out” with his only son David at the celebration, which she said was a lovely time spent with all the family.

Last year, the family got together at Nemo Rangers to celebrate their dad’s 85th birthday.

“He loved it. We had all the old photographs too. My daughter got the projector screen and put all the  photographs up and the tears were flowing. He’s a real gentle soul,” she said.

One of Dennie and Chrissie’s six children, Denise said the family “certainly populated” —with 14 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren, and another two on the way.

The eldest daughter in the family returned from the UK with her husband and children, the youngest of whom is aged 22 months, for the special occasion. “There are six of us kids in the family and all but one married either a Paul or a Paula,” said Ms Brady.

“Everyone has to get their full title because of all the Pauls.”

She said about the importance of family: “It’s great to see all the grandkids and all the great-grandkids and one is only a month old so it’s lovely to have them all together. We are so blessed to have all our family and to have our parents 65 years married — we are so lucky.”