Ross and Iris Twiner will celebrate their blue sapphire anniversary this month.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Erowal Bay couple mark 65 years of marriage on May 31.
The couple met in Bankstown on May 31, 1947. A chivalrous act brought them together.
“We met at my brother’s 21st birthday party and I walked her home,” Ross said.
Five years later to the day, they tied the knot at St Paul's Church of England in Bankstown.
They welcomed their two children, Alan in 1956 and Nell in 1959.
Alan took a job at a furniture store in Bankstown not long after the couple married.
“I took a job there for three weeks and it ended up lasting 20 years,” Alan said.
Looking for a change, the pair eventually set their sights in on the Shoalhaven.
They bought a block of land at Wrights Beach in 1964, packed up the family and made a sea change.
In 1975 another opportunity came up when a waterfront block of land in Erowal Bay went on the market.
“We borrowed some money and we purchased that and then moved into a house there in 1979,” Ross said.
After moving to the Shoalhaven, Ross took on a job he’s still very proud of.
“When I first moved here someone asked me I would do some work at the council chambers,” he said.
“I did the councillor’s room and it was my finest job.”
Ross completed the work between 1979 and 1980.
“It took me weeks and weeks but it’s still the very same today,” Ross said.
The pair has also been heavily involved in tennis and Ross was the treasurer of the Erowal Bay Tennis Club for 27 years.
“We went to a progress meeting in 1979 and started of with one tennis court and now we have six,” Ross said.
While Ross and Iris spent their 60th wedding anniversary in Cairns, the pair decided to keep their 65th anniversary celebrations low-key.
“We’ll just celebrate quietly this time,” Ross said.
‘We decided we’re getting a bit ancient.”
Now aged in their late 80s, the couple knows a thing or two about the secret to a long and happy marriage.
Ross said it comes down to one thing.
“You have to give and take – that’s the secret,” he said.
Have you celebrated a milestone anniversary recently?
Share your story by emailing nicolette.pickard@fairfaxmedia.com.au or contact 4421 9123.