Tom Parry
TUESDAY marked a significant milestone for one Sale couple that few can boast having achieved.
Wilma Walker and her husband Edwin “Jock” Walker are celebrating their platinum wedding anniversary, having been married since June 20, 1953 – exactly 70 years ago.
Jock was born in the Wimmera township of Stawell, while Wilma was born in nearby Ararat.
The pair first met at the Midland Theatre, where Wilma was working in the kiosk.
“That was my second job though, at night-time,” Wilma tells the Gippsland Times.
“I worked in an office through the day, at Cox Brothers.”
The two became friendly, starting going out and wed a couple of years later.
Their wedding ceremony took place at the Minister’s House in Ararat.
As the couple describe, the event was a “quiet” affair.
“Our families were poor,” Jock explained. “We didn’t even have an official photographer.”
After marrying, the newlyweds moved to Jock’s hometown.
“We lived in Stawell when we first married, and then we retired up to New South Wales,” Wilma said.
“Our son was in the Air Force at Canberra, our daughter was in Sydney working, and we went to Kianga.”
The Walkers lived in Kianga – located near Narooma on the southern coast of NSW – for ten years, before relocating to Sale after both children moved back to Victoria
“They did the dirty on us – (son) John moved to the Air Force (base) down here, and our daughter moved to Melbourne,” Wilma said.
“And so we followed them, which you shouldn’t do, but never mind – we’ve been very happy down here (in Sale) the last 25 years.”
“We weren’t really happy with the medical situation at Narooma,” Jock added.
“We had to go 40 kilometres one way to a hospital, 80 another, or over the mountains to Canberra for the specialist stuff.”
But he insists that Narooma is a “beautiful” place.
In reflecting upon their 70 years of marriage, Wilma cites “grandchildren” as her highlight – the couple have four children, seven grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren – while Jock nominates being able to travel.
“We do a fair bit of travelling – we’ve been right around Australia,” Jock said.
“We’ve played golf together for about 30 years – travelled around playing golf.”
And as for the secret to a successful marriage?
“Give and take,” Wilma said.
“You have your ups and you have your downs … and you overcome them,” Jock added.
“A lot of people aren’t prepared to do that – they have a spat and they say, ‘That’s it’ and they split up.
“You’ve got to stick at it … we’ve had our good times and our bad times, but we got over them, and we’re still here.”
But according to Wilma, they still have their differences.
“We have different likes and dislikes in food and that sort of thing,” she said.
She adds with a laugh: “Jock likes veggies all of the time, and I like salad. How’s that?!”
It certainly makes meal preparation tricky during winter.
Although June 20 is their day of marriage, Jock and Wilma officially celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on Sunday with a family lunch at Sale Greyhound Club, attended by their three surviving children.
They continue to live independently and remain active in the community, with Jock playing lawn bowls at Lakeside Bowls Club – when it’s not too cold.
