70 Years of Love
Joe and Beryl Telford
“Hello darling… hello sweetheart, come and give me a kiss.” Those were the heart-warming comments from Allan otherwise known as Joe (91) and Beryl (87) Telford as they were reunited for their 70th wedding anniversary.
Residing at Wontama Nursing home and enjoying retirement. Joe and Beryl celebrated their special day with family; including their three children Peter, Geoff and Joanne, their five grandchildren and their new grandchild, as they were treated to a special lunch and given a beautiful bunch of flowers to enjoy.
We spoke to Beryl;
How did you first meet? Well.. It’s a funny story love, I lived in Southwest rocks, my Father had a fishing trawler. Joe knew the Butchers there, every Saturday he would come down and help at the Butchers. Every Saturday I was sent there to get sausages.
How did Joe propose? He come to my parent’s house where I lived and said, ‘here you are, this is for you.’ *laughs* And there was an engagement ring. I can’t remember if he asked my parents permission or not, but I was very surprised. We married in the Church of England Church, Kempsey in 1950.
What did your weekends look like in the early days? We generally just stayed home on the farm. We weren’t people that used to like to go out partying and all of that. I think that’s why we have been together all these years; we were content in staying home and loved the peace and quiet of country living.
But I was the boss. *laughs*
The kids used to come home in the holidays and I’d run around and get everything ready, buy all this food and cook all of these meals.
There was lots of laughter. It was always mad *smiles* it was a house full of happiness.
What events were the most memorable in your life? Having the children born I think.
What’s your funniest moment together? We’ve had some really funny episodes, there’s too many to name. We’ve done some really funny things. We were on a cattle station and Joe used to play tricks on the kids. He put a sheet over himself and jumped off a tank stand, acting like a ghost and ran frightening the kids *laughs*
What’s your number one piece of advice for a successful marriage? Don’t go off on a tangent and listen before you speak.
What are you most proud of? We are lucky to have each other and after 70 years, it is an achievement I realize that, it does make me feel very old *smiles*
I’m proud that we are still together after 70 years. I think it must be something that is a bit rare because they are all running around thinking its great. *laughs*
We’ve only ever had one another. We’ve been together all this time if anything happened to him, I’d be absolutely lost.
Congratulations Beryl and Joe. An incredible achievement and an absolute please for us to witness your love for one another.