Couple look back on joy of 70 years
A TOWNSVILLE couple has celebrated 70 years of marriage surrounded by family and friends.
Violet Baxter met Erik Nielsen when they were living at Macrossan, near Charters Towers, and the pair married on January 10, 1948.
Mrs Neilsen said the key to a long marriage was to “just turn a deaf ear to him”, but admitted she loved “everything” about her husband.
Mr Neilsen said his wife was very attractive and a good cook.
“We don’t fight. We’ve given that up a long time ago,” he said.
Danish- born Mr Nielsen was a motor mechanic with the Royal Australian Air
We enjoyed our life together and it was very good in Malaysia. We got on well with the local people
Force, who served in New Guinea during World War II. The couple had four children – Janette, Gary, Kerry and Mark – and they became the first Australian defence family to live at Butterworth in Malaysia.
“We enjoyed our life together and it was very good in Malaysia. We got on well with the local people,” Mr Nielsen said.
The couple lived in Bris- bane and Victoria before settling in Townsville 56 years ago.
After leaving the air force in 1966, Mr Nielsen ran several successful businesses – Tandy Electronics at Stockland Shopping Centre, a service station at Aitkenvale and a machinery business.
Mr and Mrs Nielsen lived in Aitkenvale before moving to Cranbrae Retirement Village in Cranbrook last year.
The couple love travel and have been on two round- the- world trips.
The Nielsens celebrated their anniversary with a pub lunch at the Centenary Hotel on January 7.
Daughter- in- law Julie Nielsen said 57 family members travelled from as far as Brisbane and the couple received a letter from the Queen.
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