Letters speak of classic romance
“MY DEAR Clavin, I received your very welcome letter today and I do forgive you for making me wait a little longer this time.”
This opening sentence of a letter from October 1946 is just one of hundreds that Doris Naumann sent to her husband Clavin “Athol” while he was in the Navy. She kept them all.
The Toowoomba couple celebrates their 70th wedding anniversary this weekend, having lived in the same house in Harristown since they were married in 1948.
Hospital nurse Doris met her future husband when he was on leave from the Navy two years prior.
“A lady put on this welcome home party for the men on leave and I didn’t have to work so I went,” she said.
“We danced a bit, and then he offered to walk me home.”
The pair moved into a caravan on the property bought by Athol on Lloyd St, since the house hadn’t been built.
“It was Athol’s brother’s caravan – they brought it up and stuck it up the back and we lived there for three months while he was finishing the garage,” Doris said.
“Then we moved into the garage while Athol built the house.”
“I finished the house three years later,” Athol laughed.
The Naumann’s romance spans seven decades, producing five children, 17 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren as well.
As for marriage advice to others, the couple kept it pretty simple.
“We’ve remained friends as well as husband and wife – we talk to each other,” Doris said.