Lifetime of love

Bendigo Weekly | Bendigo Weekly | 20-Jul-2012

«
Tom and Joan Stubbings
»

For Tom and Joan Stubbings, a lot has changed over the past 70 years.

They’ve had four children, eight grand-children and four great-grandchildren, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the couple’s love for each other – they will have been happily married for 70 years on Monday.

They were set up on what they both described as “a blind date”, although Tom said that the two did know each other beforehand.

“One of my friends wanted to take Joan’s sister out to the pictures, and his car had broken down so we went in my father’s car, and that’s how I met Joan.”

On July 23, 1932, Tom was 20 when he and Joan, then 18, were married in Shepparton.

“Tom was in the air force, he had four days leave and we got married, then off he went again,” Joan said.

Along their remarkable journey they have lived in Shepparton, Bright and their current Strathdale home.

It was in the picturesque town of Bright that Tom, who celebrated his 90th birthday last week, developed his passion for photography.

“I ran the audio visual program for the council there, and we travelled all around Australia a few years back and I took plenty of photos then, too,” he said.

“I’ve been putting them from slides onto the computer recently, which keeps me busy during the day.”

As for what makes a successful marriage, Joan said patience is a key.

“It takes a while for two people to adjust to each other, because you come from different families and backgrounds.

“No marriage is without little arguments, but you just have to stick together.”

Tom, on the other hand, was more jovial in his assessment, saying “well, good cooking always helps.”

Comment





Captcha Image