15/10/2026
"My qualification should say Michael Dally and Pearl Forster."
41 years on from starting his first paper at Massey, Michael graduated again earlier this year, with a Graduate Diploma in Arts (Philosophy).
Pearl recruited her husband into Massey in 1985 after completing the first year of her bachelor's degree. Michael was 41 and a little apprehensive, convinced his family weren't academic people so it probably wasn’t for him. But Pearl knew otherwise.
"I said to him, you have got a king-sized brain and you will love it."
He got an A on his first essay.
They met earlier in their career when Pearl was working as a senior reporter for Radio New Zealand, managing the Horowhenua operation. After years in broadcasting, even becoming a network manager, Michael also switched to journalism and became a chief reporter for RNZ.
“Our star reporter in Levin was Pearl. We soon became an office romance.”
Michael studied a few papers a year while juggling work and soon found himself selected for Teachers’ College. What followed was a long career managing and teaching at the local branch of Literacy Aotearoa, where he helped adults to learn to read and write, along with supporting people with learning disabilities.
“It was more than interesting! We were helping people who sometimes had nothing and nowhere else to turn.”
When Michael turned 80 he was still working part-time, often late into the evenings (though he would like to point out that he always made sure to bring a pizza home for dinner when he was late). They both decided the time had come to switch work for more learning, and he enrolled to study philosophy.
“We loved it! Pearl did the readings so we could discuss it together. She was my home tutor.”
“I was just a helpmate,” said Pearl. “But I loved it. We’d sit there and have debates about it. It was fantastic.”
Their marriage has always worked this way. When they wed, Michael suggested Pearl take his surname.
"I said it'll be difficult going from Pearl Forster to Pearl Dally. She responded that it would be difficult for me to be Michael Forster. I said, I don’t want to be Michael Forster. So she said, and why would I want to be Pearl Dally?"
She kept her name in an era when that was considered fairly radical.
The last decade has brought real health challenges and they have met those the same way they meet everything else, by doing it side by side.
When we asked them the secret to a successful and long marriage they both had similar answers.
"Sharing things and sharing interests. And not just the grocery shopping. Really taking an interest in what your partner does so that you can be supportive of each other.”
Reflecting on what his university years have given him, Michael is looking forward to more study in the future.
“Through Massey I’ve expanded my view. Not to judge. A big new world of understanding of humanity. And, thanks to Massey, we’ve helped people along the way and that is so important to both of us.”
Congratulations Michael and Pearl. 🎓
