To celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary, Gerroa man Andrew 'Ross' Waddell decided it was time to get the original wedding party back together.
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On a sunny day at Shell Cove, 84-year-old Ross and his 79-year-old wife, Kathleen Waddell, met best man Barry Martin and bridesmaid Norma Mitchell to drink champagne and eat seafood together.
The weather wasn't as perfect when they first met each other on the New Year long weekend in 1959.
It was a rainy day in Gerroa when 15-year-old Kathleen Lewis went camping with her friend Norma Mitchell's family for the weekend.
"We'd get to the top of the hill at Gerroa, where the fishing club now is, and we used to scream with excitement," Mrs Waddell said.
"Her parents wouldn't let us go to the beach until we put up the tent."
The girls met when they started kindergarten together at Corrimal Public School, a class of only six students.
While sheltering from the bad weather Kathleen first met "Berry boy" Ross as they played a game of cards but she insists there was no "stars in the eyes" moment.
Over four years they spent time slowly getting to know each other and going on many trips to the Southline drive-in cinema at Fairy Meadow.
"We just clicked, we just got on well ... I was his first girlfriend and he was my first boyfriend," she said.
"We both have our own circle of friends, but our circle of friends have become one."
The pair got married at Saint Alban's Church of England in Corrimal on October 12, 1963.
Both Norma and Kathleen were Sunday school teachers at the church, while Ross worked for his family business Waddell's Family Newsagent, allegedly one of the oldest newsagents in Australia. He then worked as a truck driver for the fish markets.
Kathleen got married on her birthday and recalls the minister was delayed at another wedding for 15 minutes.
"I was standing at the door waiting and everybody else was sitting in there and didn't know anything they were all turned around wondering why I hadn't come through the door," she said.
Now the pair patiently wait to board cruise ships together as their favourite pastime during retirement.
"You name it we've been there!" Mrs Waddell said.
"It's our time together. We've got nothing else to worry about or to distract us and we both just enjoy relaxing."
Ross said he enjoys "the company" of his wife and they've travelled to South America, Canada, New York, Norway, England, and Italy.
For their honeymoon, they went to Western Australia on a cruise ship; for this anniversary they'll go on a "half-world cruise back to Australia" in late October.
According to Mrs Waddell, the secret to a long, happy marriage is knowing one another and putting the effort in.
"Just having love and respect for the other person," she said.
"I don't think there's a truth for why it happens, I think it's something you make happen."
Marlene Even
Journalist at the Illawarra Mercury. Previously a radio and podcast host at 2SER Radio.
Journalist at the Illawarra Mercury. Previously a radio and podcast host at 2SER Radio.
