I love finding stories of long-lasting marriages. Most of them are young marriages but they have to be married young to be able to rack up that many years. One recently was Norm and Ona Leffler. He was 20 and she was 19 when they married. This year they received among their congratulatory messages, one from Queen Elizabeth, one from the Governor General and one from the Prime Minister of Australia. I wonder if Mick and I will ever get to 70 years married.
Another couple, Gordon and Roma Adams, first met as children at school. As teenagers it turned to romance. Again she was 19 and he was 21 when married. This year they celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. Roma gave her secret to a happy marriage as ‘a lot of understanding and talking together.’ Mick and I haven’t racked up anywhere near 60 years yet but we couldn’t agree more.
Edna and Roy Shute say the secret to a long happy marriage is ‘trust, love and having a big family.’ I don’t know about the big family so much. We only have two adult children and 2 grandchildren and we’re happily married, but I certainly agree about the other two aspects. Interestingly both this couple and Roger and Dorothy Arnold one of the younger married (a mere 50 years but still longer than Mick and I) mentions church involvement as one of their prime interests.
Roger and Dorothy grew up in the community of Kangaroo Valley, where they later married. They are still live in the same area on a dairy farm and are involved in the same church where they married. Carl and Roma Jeffery also celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2008, as did Helen and Lyndsay Boyd. Lyndsay said ‘having similar interests’ was a key to a lasting marriage along with ‘keeping yourself young at heart.’
I have to say I’d agree with those suggestions too. Mick and I have certain interests in common, including time with family, football(AFL – Aussie Footy) films, music, live theatre and lately swimming. Tennis too, as soon as I can hold a racket again.
It’s always helpful to see what others say about the secret to long-lasting marriages and sometime we can even pick up ideas that will help us in our own marriages.
by Dale Harcombe
ICHTHUS Ministries 