JUNE and Jerry Fenwick will celebrate 60 years of marriage this month in Nelson Bay, a place they've made home in more ways than one.
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Between the J. Fenwick milk run, the Girl Guides and even water skiing, the couple has not only dedicated their lives to one another but the community too.
June (nee Hancock) was a none-too-punctual school teacher, known as ‘The late Miss Hancock’, when she met Jerry (then a fitter and turner), at a Palais Royale dance.
They married a short time later at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Wallsend, November 24, 1956.
"Jerry said if I was late to the wedding he'd leave me there," she said.
"I was still working on my veil that morning but I made sure I was on time for my wedding."
They made their home in Nelson Bay when Jerry joined dad on the milk run.
June came home from the newsagent's one day where Beth Mellor said the Brownies (junior girl guides) needed a hand.
"Jerry said, 'please yourself'," June said.
The Brownies then occupied a disused naval shed on the waterfront which they soon outgrew.
Jerry used his drafting experience to draw up plans for a hall in Norburn Avenue. He became ‘Mr Brown Owl’ to the Brownies.
June recalled there wasn’t so much as a picture theatre in Nelson Bay then. They were among the first to take up water skiing at Fly Point.
Skis couldn’t be bought so Jerry crafted his own from palings and a car inner tube for foot straps.
"I made quite a few skis for other people, I'd built a steamer to put a bend in them," he said.
"People soon took to buying them but I kept using mine, I could ride anything else."
Jerry did the Shoal Bay milk run and learnt his dad had been a little too generous.
One mother of five couldn't afford the bill but offered up her son, 12, to help.
"That was the integrity of people then,” Jerry said.
“That's one of the greatest experiences I had with human nature.”
The milk run only lasted a few more years. Jerry landed a job with the Water Board and became an engineer. June worked one day a week as a school teacher so she could raise Susan, Lyndal and Craig.
"We've always been independent but we've also done a lot together," June said, of the secret to their marriage.
Nor did they hold a grudge.
"We've had verbal disagreements but we always moved on," Jerry said.
After a big 50th celebration their 60th will be low key.
June plans to sing carols at Harbourside Haven before they spend the rest of the day together at home.
