What is known today as Pauls Corner was nothing more than a little shop with a shed off the side when Leonard Anderson would call in of a Sunday to see Joy.
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“I was only 16 when we started going together,” Mrs Anderson said.
“He would ride me home on his bike, alongside me.”
The pair were married at St Xavier’s Anglican Church, Williamtown, on June 21, 1958, in front of 80 guests, including two bridesmaids, a groomsman and one best man. Thursday marks 60 years since they both said ‘I do’. Their marriage produced four children; Noel, Narelle, Geoffrey (dec) and Karen. Salt Ash remains their home, living in a house they built 47 years ago. A place where they kept horses for the children and grew vegetables.
“We’ve had a happy life with some lovely friends and a happy family,” Mrs Anderson, 81, said.
“We’ve had our ups and downs since then, but more ups. We’ve always pulled together to help each other.”
For five years they ran a milk run together that stretched from Anna Bay to Fullerton Cove.
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While caring for their children was her main concern she would also find work at the rose farm which belonged to Peter Holiday at Bobs Farm. Mr Anderson would also work in the oyster industry for Barry Shepherd on the Tilligerry Creek and at Salamander Bay until 1990, until his knees gave out. For seven years after that he worked as a concrete truck driver until retirement.
“A lot of people don’t make it this long being married but we’ve managed,” Mr Anderson, soon to be 84, said.
The pair lost their son, Geoffrey, in a motorcycle accident in the 1980s but they hold tightly onto the good times including family skiing trips to the Myall Lakes.
“We met a lot of good people up there and had a lot of good times,” Mr Anderson said.
“We’d leave these old caravans up there at Leggs Camp for free or next to nothing but that all changed. It’s not the same anymore, not the free and easy place it once was.”
The Andersons celebrated their 60th anniversary earlier this month with about 60 guests at the Lakeside Tavern.
