Lifetime of love, memories
Acouple who have lived in the Wimmera for many years, where they became heavily involved in various youth organisations, will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary tomorrow.
Marion and Rodney Smith were married on September 28, 1963 and said neither of them ‘ever expected’ to reach the impressive milestone.
Mrs Smith said the pair met and married in her home town of Creswick, before honeymooning in Adelaide.
“We got married in the Creswick Methodist Church. I was born and bred in Creswick and he was born in England,” she said.
“We didn’t have very much money to do anything fancy so we towed a caravan for our honeymoon. It was lots of fun.
“The first night out of Creswick, we had a massive thunderstorm.
“We stayed the night at Stawell and that was as far as we got. “We’ll never forget it.” Mrs Smith said Mr Smith’s work later brought them to the Wimmera.
“He was an electrician and he wanted to better himself and knew someone in the State Electricity Commission, SEC, who suggested that he try to get a position there,” she said.
“After we got married, we had two years in Creswick and then we moved to Melbourne. From there, his first appointment with the SEC was at Edenhope.
“Then subsequent promotions took him to Stawell and then he retired from the SEC in Horsham.”
Mrs Smith said some of the best memories of their marriage were holidays with their children, Jacci, Leonie and Wesley.
“We’ve had some lovely holidays when they were little,” she said.
“We took them to Queensland and, when our boy was two, we pulled a caravan to Cairns.
“In 1980, we took the family to England. That was the first time that Rodney had been back to see his family.”
Mr Smith said, after being born just before the start of the Second World War at Burton upon Trent, he ended up in Australia on the advice of family friends.
“I was an only child and came to Australia with my mum,” he said.
“My father was a First World War veteran and his health was not good.
“The doctors suggested that maybe we get to a warmer climate than England.
“He suggested western Canada or Australia and it just so happened that Mum and Dad had made friends from Australia during the war.”
Mr Smith said the couple had involved themselves with different youth groups throughout their lives and he had been a member of Lions Club International for 55 years.
“We did a tremendous lot with the Lions Youth Exchange Program,” he said.
“We had 10 trips overseas chaperoning the kids. We went to America, Canada, Europe, the UK, Japan and the four countries in Scandinavia.
“Knowing what you can do for youth, a lot of them they are so shy and you can bring them out of their shells a bit.”
Mrs Smith said she had been a leader of Girl Guides for 57 years, with ‘fun
and friendship’ keeping her involved for so long.
“I started as a youth member in Creswick and you can progress through to become a leader,” she said.
“If it wasn’t for the girls, it wouldn’t be there. There are girls who are now leaders that were guides when I was a young leader.”
Mrs Smith was awarded an Order of Australia medal in 2012 for her
service to youth, particularly through Girl Guides Australia.
Mr Smith said he felt lucky to mark 60 years of marriage and that the pair had been able to maintain their health.
“It’s like everything in life — you have some disagreements but we don’t have big quarrels. It’s been a lovely marriage,” he said. “I feel I’m so lucky I can still just waltz around like I’ve been doing today.”