The Tatura couple celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last Thursday and despite COVID-19 restrictions ruining their plans to party with family and friends, the pair said they really only needed each other to celebrate.
Originally from England, the pair wed in South Hampton in 1960.
“We used to fight then separate for a couple of days and then get together again,” Ann said.
“We were determined to prove our parents wrong.
“Then finally I woke up married one day and I’m still wondering how it happened,” Ann said with a laugh.
Ken recalls smoking a cigarette out the front of the church as he waited for Ann to arrive.
“She was two hours late,” Ken said.
But Ann rebuffs him and has always claimed he was simply early.
“It was the first and last appointment he has ever been early for,” Ann said.
The pair moved to Australia nine years later in search of a better life and settled in Tatura shortly after arriving.
“The rest was history, we didn't want to go anywhere else after that,” Ann said.
“We have three children and five grandchildren.
“We had two chairs and two beds when we first came here.
“But money has never meant much to us – as long as the kids were fed and clothed,” she said.
Ann worked as a nurse and Ken owned and managed a 300-acre dairy farm where the cows were more like pets and could be patted and cuddled.
Alongside their children, one of the couple’s fondest memories were the parties they used to host.
“We had some great parties,” Ann said.
“We used to invite my friends from the hospital, his friends from wherever and the kid’s friends,” she said.
Ken’s mother died during World War II and said the family he built was the only real family he had ever had.
“We have such pride in our family,” Ken said.
“They mean the world to me,” he said.
The pair agreed the secret to making a relationship work was “fighting and making up”.
“We still fight from time to time,” Ann said.
“But I don’t have the energy to argue, so I just go to my room and he always walks down the paddock and cuts thistles.
“Then we are as good as gold.
“He makes me think I've won but he secretly gets his own way and I find out about it five days later,” she said with a smirk.
The couple celebrated the diamond event at home eating Shepherd’s pie and sticky date pudding.
They received a coffee machine and bird feeder as gifts and plan to host another "grand party" after the COVID-19 pandemic ends.
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