REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Friday March 13, 1964 THIS was the story of a girl and her search for happiness, one which was heartwarming ... and humbling.

And it was a story with a sequel ... a honeymoon on the Gold Coast.

It was the story of Joan Waite, 26, a polio victim who had never walked.

For the first 11 years of her courageous life Joan lay on her back, unable to move any part of her body except her arms.

But by 1964 her invalid bed was nothing but a fading memory. She was honeymooning as Mrs Allan Corfe of Melbourne in a wheelchair at Paradise Court, Paradise Island.

Joan and Allan enjoyed a typical tourist holiday on the Gold Coast.

One of their big moments came when their hosts, Tony and Dolly Holmshaw, took them to the Lions Family night at the Paradise Room.

Joan had shot to fame when her story was shown across the world in 1962 on the Tommy Hanlon Jr television series Following that appearance she met her future husband.

Meanwhile, South Coast MP Eric Gaven was the first to congratulate his mother, Mrs Emily Mary Gaven on her 90th birthday.

Mrs Gaven’s daughter, Mrs Pat Lee of Nerang, held a birthday party for her mother with a dozen friends.

Congratulatory telegrams arrived, including one from Premier Francis Nicklin, and one from Education Minister Jack Pizzey.

Mrs Gaven was a former teacher. She was born in 1874 in Bundaberg and moved to Merrimac in the 1890s.