A CHANCE meeting on a friend’s blind date was where my grandmother Yvonne’s sparkling eyes stole the show for Errol Trapnell.
The couple will celebrate 50 years of marriage on Sunday.
After hearing an old saying that women could propose on a leap year, Yvonne proposed to Errol in 1968.
“We used to go places for picnics and talk about life and our future,” Mrs Trapnell said. “On one of those occasions I jumped in and asked if he would marry me.
“I worked in the city near the botanical gardens as a comptometrist, so Errol met me for lunch one day and we went and bought an engagement ring.”
Mr Trapnell was raised at Morningside, while Mrs Trapnell grew up at Coopers Plains.
Mr Trapnell had already asked the father of his bride for permission to marry before Mrs Trapnell proposed.
“(The proposal) was a little bit unusual but other women did it as well,” Mrs Trapnell said. “My family was thrilled.
“They liked this tall, dark and handsome young soldier, otherwise Dad wouldn’t have given consent, and so he was accepted into the family.”
They waited a year for Mr Trapnell to be discharged from the army and Mrs Trapnell to turn 21, to marry.
Early in their marriage they lived at Rocklea. They moved to Pub Lane and Cedar Vale and have lived at North Maclean for the past two years.
In 1974, their house at Rocklea went underwater in the floods and they lost almost everything, including the signatures on their marriage certificate.
The couple have three children and seven grandchildren.
Errol has worked as a butcher boner, army cook and fruit picker, and owned an industrial cleaning company that specialised in meat processing plants.
“After that, Yvonne and I went into early retirement to watch our grandchildren grow,” he said. “(In retirement) I did historic car racing and played darts for recreation.”
Their marriage secret is to be honest and open and to never go to bed or leave for work angry with each other.
