Communication the vital key
Wally and Maureen Henderson share a lifetime of love.
This love is stronger than ever as the pair celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary this Friday after marrying on December 19, 1964.
It’s Wally’s job to tell the story of how they met.
He says he knew Maureen’s cousin.
‘‘I didn’t know Maureen at all. I went to her cousin’s 21st and Maureen was there. I like to get up dancing and the girl I took, she wouldn’t get up. After a little while I got sick of her not getting up so I asked her again and she wouldn’t so I went and asked Maureen.
‘‘I danced with Maureen nearly all night,’’ Wally laughs.
In the months following they went to the pictures, dances and shows together.
Maureen says she and Wally went together for 12 months before getting engaged. A year later they were married. ‘‘It’s gone quite fast,’’ she says. The pair have been busy most of their lives, Wally adds.
After they got married they both worked in town before beginning a new life working on farms.
Over the years the couple have worked on various properties including a stint in the house Maureen was brought up in.
They then shifted to her grandparents’ farm and remained there for about 32 years. Over that time they welcomed into the world three boys, Peter, Colin and Scott.
Hard work, sports and family kept the couple busy until 2001, when Wally decided he’d had enough of farming.
The couple moved into town, moving to one of the first houses in Mannix Pl.
They’ve now got used to life in town after so long on the farm, but it has taken a while.
Maureen now enjoys spending time in the garden with her beautiful roses, playing golf, tennis and spending time with their grandchildren.
The pair also get on their bikes and are members of the Matamata Peddlers. ‘‘We keep pretty busy,’’ Maureen says.
Wally volunteers with the health shuttle and is on the Mata- mata Racing Club committee. He is also still a calf club judge, a job he’s done for 40-odd years.
Asked what they love about each other, Wally pipes up: ‘‘Go on, you can have first dig at me.’’
He’s joking of course. ‘‘You’re my wife and I love ya,’’ he says quietly.
‘‘We just seem to get on so well together,’’ Maureen agrees.
‘‘We have lots of fun,’’ Maureen carries on. ‘‘ I like jokes,’’ adds Wally.
‘‘I think we compliment each other,’’ Maureen said. ‘‘I wouldn’t like to think what it would be like without him.’’
‘‘ Same here,’’
says. Wally
Wally
quickly adds.
The Henderson’s say the key to success in a relationship that spans five decades is communication.
‘‘I think you have to talk to each other if you have a problem, don’t stew over it. Don’t just walk out the door and give up,’’ Maureen says.
For some these days it might be too easy to walk away, she believes.
The couple love having their family around and celebrated their milestone with everyone on Saturday.
I wouldn’t like to think what it would be like without him.
– Maureen Henderson, on the love she shares with her husband, Wally, of 50 years