FIFTY-TWO years after making her decision, Melton’s Shirley Dale still maintains that choosing her husband Peter was the best move she ever made.
She was 20 when she met her sweetheart while travelling interstate.
But at the time, back home in Braybrook, another young man was after her heart.
“I had to choose … fortunately I chose my husband,” Mrs Dale said.
The couple, who have a son, a daughter and four grandchildren, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last weekend with friends and family.
Shirley, 72, and Peter, 71, are busy members of their community and have been Melton residents for close to 40 years.
“I’m off to gym a few times a week, doing tai chi and there’s a mature-age group where we do a lot of weights and ball work,” Mrs Dale said.
Asked the key to a happy marriage, Mrs Dale is quick to mention tolerance.
“You have to have a bit of tolerance. I think these days, people think it is easy just to walk away,”
she said.
“You have to have a bit of a laugh, for sure, and to like some of the same things. Peter and I like to go to the movies and going for drives.”
Mrs Dale said humble beginnings helped the couple grow closer.
“When we got married we had a second-hand fridge, second-hand couch and borrowed furniture.
“And it meant we appreciated things when we had earned them.”
