Greenbank couple Don and Josie Stretton celebrated 60 years of marriage on Thursday.
The pair met at a new year’s night dance in the Scenic Rim in 1955 according to Don.
“The Cricketer’s Association always had a new year’s dance at Maroon and a friend of mine Frank and I stood at the door and checked out who all the new girls were and that’s where I spotted Josephine and Frank saw her sister Shirley,” he said.
“We ended up having a double marriage a year later.”
That fateful meeting led Don and Frank to share a 75 mile trip way every weekend to see Josie and Shirley.
Don and Josie were married at St Phillips Church in Buranda in 1956 and the couple bought three blocks on what was then Beaudesert Shire Council land in 1957 before building their first home in 1959, a home they share to this day.
“The house used to be closer to the road but they shifted it for the roundabout,” Mr Stretton said.
“We used to be just the third house on Middle Road at the time and we had five years with no power before they hooked the power lines up.”
The couple had four children and now boast 10 grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
Greenbank School had 17 children when my daughter Sheryl started there,” Mr Stretton said.
“I used to drive the school bus which was an old FJ Holden Ute with a canopy over the back,” Mrs stretton said.
Mrs Stretton said the key to their successful union had been cooperation a sentiment echoed by her husband.
“Just working together really,” she said.
“She looked after the kids while I went to work,” Mr Stretton said.
Don and Josie received congratulations on their 60th wedding anniversary from the Queen, the Governor General and the Prime Minister in the mail and marked the milestone with a dinner at Park Ridge Tavern last Sunday with approximately 40 friends and family.
