Everlasting love a Valentine’s Day gift
FEBRUARY 14 is long connected with a celebration of all things romance, but when a real love story unfolds it’s grounded less in greeting cards and gifts and more in milestones, like a 70th wedding anniversary. On Tuesday, February 5, this year, John Smith, 97, and his bride, Violet, marked their platinum anniversary. The couple’s love blossomed in the 1940s when they met at a horse gymkhana at Ballimore. It wasn’t until Violet’s family moved closer to where John lived that the opportunity for love and lifelong friendship could take hold. On Saturday, February 5, 1949, the couple were married at the Church of England. So what’s their secret, after all these years?
FEBRUARY 14 is long connected with a celebration of all things romance, but when a real love story unfolds it’s grounded less in greeting cards and gifts and more in milestones, like a 70th wedding anniversary.
On Tuesday, February 5, this year, John Smith, 97, and his bride, Violet, marked their platinum anniversary.
The couple’s love blossomed in the 1940s when they met at a horse gymkhana at Ballimore.
It wasn’t until Violet’s family moved closer to where John lived that the opportunity for love and lifelong friendship could take hold.
“I had lived further along the Dunedoo Road from Ballimore. John lived out on the Gilgandra Road. Just after we met my father moved over to the Gilgandra Road. Being only about 16 meant the whole family moved there.
“John’s father’s property wasn’t very far away. So we used to go through the back paddocks to meet up,” Violet told Dubbo Photo News.
“It was only about seven miles from our place to Violet’s,” John recalled.
She says their courtship was fairly slow and life has taught
her that John doesn’t do things in a hurry.
“I buggered around for about three years before I popped the question,” he said.
On Saturday, February 5, 1949, the couple met at the Church of England church to tie the knot.
So what’s their secret, after all these years?
“We both loved horses and
were reared up in the bush. She is good company but I reckon I picked the best little girl in the world. We’ve had our ups and downs. She’d have one opinion and I’d have another, but we’ve always worked it out. I couldn’t have done better,” John said.
“Neither one of us could have done better,” Violet added.
There is another secret to the longevity of their partnership
and it’s a Ford Model T.
John and Violet have travelled thousands of kilometres to the farthest reaches of Australia in that iconic motor vehicle, including far north Queensland, across the Nullarbor, the Birdsville Track, up into the Kimberley and Darwin.
“We’ve had a great life,” John said.
She is good company but I reckon I picked the best little girl in the world...