FRIENDSHIP isn’t the only binding factor in the relationship between Manning couples Jim and Anne Cleal and Alwyn and Iris Saville.
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The couples share a wedding date of September 29, 1956 and this year celebrate 60 years of marriage. It’s a coincidence the couples never knew, despite Anne and Iris working together during their youth at a Palmers Department Store in Narrabri.
Between moving and starting families the couples lost contact. It wasn’t until retirement did Anne find out the Savilles now lived in Harrington, an hour away from their home in Forster.
She called and Alwyn picked up the phone.
“You wouldn’t have any idea who I am,” she told him.
He knew her voice straight away. The couples reconnected. Later they established they had the same wedding date, married at the same time of day and went to the same honeymoon destination – Katoomba. T
he couples celebrated the milestone with family and yesterday enjoyed lunch together at Club Taree.
Lucky in love
IT was by sheer luck Alywin Saville met and wed his beloved wife Iris of Narrabri.
Alwyn grew up in Langley Vale. He worked locally until there was a desperate need for fireman on the railway in Narrabri. It would be here, in this new town, Alwyn would spot Iris at a dance. He leaned over to his friend and asked who she was.
“The chap said to me ‘she comes from a good family – you can’t go wrong’,” Alwyn recalled.
They moved to Sydney where Alwyn became a train driver. After retiring in 1994 they moved to Harrington. They have since travelled Australia in a caravan.
Alwyn is also involved in the RSL Sub-branch and The Retired Railway Employees Association. Iris said the secret to reaching their diamond anniversary is ‘sticking it out’.
“You’ve got to stick it out. As you get older, you need each other so much. When one gets sick the other takes over.”
Going with the flow
The love story of Jim of Warialda and Anne of Murrurundi started in a bakery.
In Narrabri, Anne worked at a bakery where Jim was the delivery man. When a job came up for Jim in Sydney, working with his brother as a mechanic, Anne followed him there.
It was in Sydney they would wed at St Brigid's Marrickville.
They stayed in Sydney for around 20 years, before going back to the bush at Lismore where they operated a corner store. Retirement brought the couple to Forster, before a move to Harrington.
Anne said the secret to 60 years of marriage is ‘going with the flow’.
“You take the good with the bad. You can’t expect life to be a bed of roses,” she said.
The couple loved dancing and taking road trips to the top of Queensland and The Great Ocean Road.
