The secret to a long and happy marriage is picking the right person.
That’s according to Cleve man Allan Edwards, who together with his wife Robyn, celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary in October.
Add to that being friends and living long enough, also helps.
Allan said he didn’t like to make a big deal of their anniversary as he had many friends who hadn’t made the milestone, due to losing their spouse.
“It was always on my mind to marry a Christian girl,” Allan said.
“Love each other and always show care and respect.”
Robyn Colebatch was in her first year teaching in Whyalla when friends, including then Cleve man Allan Nield, asked her to attend a dance at Cleve.
It was organised by the then Methodist (now Uniting) Church and it was there that they met.
Allan said Whyalla might have seemed too far away to start a relationship with someone.
However, the timing was good as he was training to be a pilot.
“I had been training in Cleve with the Royal Aero Club and I just had to go to Whyalla to do navigation training,” Allan said.
“If I hadn’t been doing that, I might have said ‘Whyalla is too far’.”
However, the couple married three years later at Hare Street Methodist Church, at Kurralta Park, in Adelaide.
Robyn was attended by Judith Chapman, of Kimba, and Adelaide college friend Marion Winn.
Allan’s groomsmen were his brother Don Edwards and John Priess.