In 1962 when New Zealand Woman’s Weekly was celebrating its 30th anniversary, staff photographer Michael Willison was given the task of finding several 30-year-old women to feature on the birthday issue cover.
Amongst others, he contacted his Mount Ruapehu ski-club friend Grace Rawson, who agreed to pose with her angelic two-year-old daughter Cherilyn.
Grace, now 82, had attended school in the 1940s with the Weekly’s legendary test kitchen founder Tui Flower.
“I remember sewing the daisies on Cherilyn’s sweet little lemon-coloured dress myself,” Grace says of that magical photoshoot day.
Mum and daughter are still close.
Fast forward half a century and Grace’s wee cherub is now Cherie de St Croix. She adopted the exotic surname following the breakdown of her first marriage five years ago, an experience that coincided with her turning 50.
“It’s a family name on my maternal side,” she explains. “I was going through a ‘French’ period of my life because I went to Paris at about the same time to celebrate my milestone birthday.”
A mother-of-three, Christopher (26), Oliver (22), and Isabella (19), Cherie had worked as a media buyer for advertising agencies and later became a successful businesswoman with the Christmas Gift Company, which specialised in corporate giving.
To celebrate the Weekly’s big birthday, two-year-old Cherie and her 30-year-old mum Grace featured on our cover.
The New Zealand Woman’s Weekly cover from December 1962.
“It was hard work with everything happening at once in December and the rest of the year was spent gathering stock to do it all over again,” she says. “Around the time of my 50th, I guess I hit the wall, really. I had to find a new direction and one thing I knew was that I wanted to get married again.”
A foray into online dating sites yielded a variety of unsuccessful contenders, including a professional chess player, an airline pilot and a stevedore, then along came Andrew Glazier (52), an English IVF specialist, who is now based in Auckland.
“We agreed to meet for a coffee and it turned into a three-hour lunch,” tells Cherie. “I knew that he was ‘the one’ right then and there!”
One particular aspect that sealed the new relationship was a shared love of op-shopping.
“I first discovered it a few years ago when a friend was boasting that his whole designer outfit had only cost $10. He offered to take me to a few of his favourite haunts and now I’m absolutely addicted,” Cherie explains. “I have found the most amazing bargains. Now I wear all second-hand clothing – and I’m proud of it!”
Perhaps her love of a good frock came from mum Grace. After working as a photo colourist, applying her magic to the black and white prints of the day, she later moved into the clothing trade with her late husband Buster. A number of successful labels followed, including one called “Gracefully Yours”.
Cherie and her second husband Andrew bonded over a love of op-shopping and second-hand goods.
Like her mother, Cherie became so passionate about her new-found favourite activity that she too began working the retail side of the trade, volunteering in charity shops – sorting, cleaning and merchandising stock.
When Andrew popped the question, it went without saying that vintage finds would be central to the wedding service, and the dinner and dance afterwards.
“We went on a major hunt for glassware, china and cutlery,” remembers Cherie, who bases herself in Tauranga. “No op shop was safe as we searched in Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne, Honolulu and even Winton!”
Their dedication yielded enough old-fashioned Champagne glasses for each of their guests to toast them, as well as a variety of pretty floral china for the dessert room. Sourcing and cleaning silverware proved to be oddly satisfying, and by buying part sets on Trade Me, Cherie and Andrew were able to gather the right number of classy knives, forks and spoons.
Wanting to ensure that the atmosphere was truly romantic, Cherie also assembled a collection of 200 candles and candle holders.
In keeping with the theme of vintage grace and elegance, ladies were asked to wear hats and men to wear black tie.
The big day in late November last year dawned rainy but nothing was going to stand in the way of the couple’s joy.
“We couldn’t marry outside as we’d planned, but we took our vows on the porch and that was just fine.”
The bride’s dress was the only thing that was new – ordered from China, which was altered locally to fit, and Andrew’s suit was hired.
“But we both had second-hand designer shoes and I made my own posy!”
Amongst a close, happy group of friends and relations, nobody was more thrilled for the newlyweds than Grace.
“It was a terrific occasion and I’m so glad that my daughter found Andrew,” she says. “He’s a lovely, quiet gentleman and provides a perfect balance for her. I still remember the day of the 30th birthday cover shoot and it’s wonderful to think that my little girl has found such happiness fifty-something years on.
“I’m very proud of her and she deserves it!”
Words: Louise Richardson
