Golden years

Marianne and Rudi Kintzel are a generation apart in age but the things they’ve found in common have melted the years between them, as Linda Peatling discovers.

He grew up in the war-torn Germany of the 1940s; she grew up in the carefree Australia of the 1970s. He listened to news on the wireless; she watched ‘The Brady Bunch’ on TV. When she was born, he was 31. At first glance Rudi and Marianne Kintzel could be mistaken for father and daughter, and indeed they have been. “The ironing lady once came to drop off our ironing and said, ‘I’ve got your father’s shirts’,” laughs Marianne. “She nearly died when I said, ‘You mean my husband’s shirts’.”

It’s a mistake 37-year-old Marianne and 68-year-old Rudi have learned to accept and forgive over the 15 years since they became a couple. “It’s always a little bit awkward because people do see the cliché, but it doesn’t bother us because we know that what we have is real,” says Marianne. “Women sometimes think I’m a gold digger but Rudi’s not rich so that’s usually put to bed fairly quickly!” 

“It’s only natural I suppose,” adds Rudi. “I’ve even done it myself – I’ll see an older man with a younger woman and say, ‘Look at that silly old fool’ and then I realise that people are probably saying that about me!”

Frustratingly for the couple, the way they met also smacks of a cliché... “I was applying for a job with a wine company and Rudi was conducting the interviews,” Marianne explains with a smile. “And I must admit I thought he was gorgeous from the start... He was very handsome and such a gentleman – I think I developed a bit of a crush on him right away.”

For Rudi however, the opposite was true, at least at first. “I didn’t even want to employ her,” he says. “I thought she was well presented but much too young and inexperienced for the role.” As a result, Rudi rejected Marianne but she was determined to get the job – it would mean a big career move for the then 23-year-old. She continued to harass Rudi to give her a chance and, in the end, he gave in. “She rang me relentlessly so I thought, ‘Perhaps this girl does have what it takes to succeed in sales’,” he laughs.

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