“We met at one of Porter’s Popular Parties,” said John Read, recalling how he first encountered his wife Roberta more that 50 years ago.

John was a young research agronomist on his first appointment to Leeton with the Department of Agriculture, while Roberta was a primary teacher on her very first posting.

“In those days the Ag Agronomists were all about the same age and schoolteachers were all about the same age so in the same social network,” said John. “Ken Porter was a teacher and he used to have parties from time to time at different locations and they became known as Porter's Popular Parties.”

“I think I'd only been at Leeton a couple of weeks. So, we met very early on,” said Roberta.

And it wasn’t long after that the young couple travelled to Sydney to seek permission from Roberta’s to get married.

“We asked them if we could get married and they were quite horrified that I wanted to get married so soon!” laughed Roberta. “They made me wait until my 21st birthday!”

But this Friday, John and Roberta will celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary, something that seems to be an increasingly rare milestone these days.

 “I think right from the start we had shared values and a common faith so that was the basis for a good marriage,” said Roberta.

“Make sure you do the best for your partner,” added John. “That's one of the keys to having a strong bond, make sure you think of your partner always as being in need more than you.”

John and Roberta have three children and three grandchildren, and they have been happily retired in Orange for the past 15 years.

They are celebrating their Golden Anniversary this week (August 23rd) with a cruise around Japan.