From a blind date to 70th wedding anniversary

St Albans Park residents Dawn and Rick are celebrating 70 years together since their blind date took an unexpected turn in the early 1950s.

Dawn was being eagerly pursued by Rick’s friend but insisted she wouldn’t go on a date with him unless her friend could come too.

“My friend said they were having a barbecue up in the hills and Dawn wouldn’t go with him unless she could take her friend, so he asked me to go with them and be a partner to Dawn’s friend Bobbie,” Rick said.

“So we went and I ended up with Dawn and I don’t know what happened to the other two!

“We used to go dancing and I knew of her before the barbecue but after that we would always meet at the dances, and so it went on.”

Dawn and Rick got married on the 8^th May 1954 at Midland in Western Australia and he says their anniversary has now become even more special.

“We got married on 8^th May and this year on our anniversary our third great grandchild was born over in Canada. 

“When we got married, Dawn decided that instead of an engagement ring we should buy a block of land because we needed a home, so that’s what we did.

“That’s where our three children were born in Bassendean, and I worked at Perth Airport at the time.”

From there, the couple would travel the world together, following Rick’s work to countries including Montreal, India, Singapore and Canada.

Now, he says their seven decades of happy memories are all thanks to Dawn and the life they built together.

“God knows where I would have been if I hadn’t had met her – she pulled me into line and I owe her plenty for that.

“She raised our three children, always had a level mind and knew what we needed as a family.”

Dawn now lives at Bolton Clarke’s Tannoch Brae aged care home, with Rick a short walk away so he can visit her twice a day.

“Dawn has been at Tannoch Brae for four and a half years now and it was so great to celebrate our anniversary together,” he says.

“The team did a amazing job decorating the dining area for us and we had residents and family join us for the celebrations.”

As for their advice on keeping a strong and happy marriage, Rick says:

“Work together - neither of you are dominant, it’s just a matter of putting your heads together and thinking will we do this or will we do that.

“You have to coordinate with each other rather than one person just saying we will do this.”