DON Koch grew up in Bendigo, but it was in Wedderburn that he discovered gold.
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He was an apprentice carpenter at the time, and recalls going to the shop to buy some milk.
“I walked into the milk bar, and there was Pam,” Don says. “I knew there and then that I’d discovered gold.”
It was another six years before Don got the okay from Alf Smith to marry his daughter, but he believes it’s one of the reasons their marriage has had such longevity.
“We started our life together as really good friends, and that’s just continued,” Don says.
Pam agrees. “I honestly can’t remember us having an argument during all these years. We’ve supported each other through the good experiences and the bad.”
When the couple married on October 23, 1954, at the Holy Trinity Church, you could be forgiven for thinking that half of Wedderburn had turned out to celebrate.
“My father Alf was such an identity in the town, and the Smith clan was a big family,” Pam says. “There were over 300 guests at the wedding and then at the Mechanics Institute for the reception.”
Don remembers his ute being plasted with confetti and dragging cans behind it as he and Pam headed off on their honeymoon.
They spent their wedding night at the George Hotel in Ballarat, before heading on to Adelaide.
“We hadn’t booked ahead and when we arrived the English cricket team was in town for a test. Everything in the city was booked out. We ended up in a little place way out on the edge of the city.”
Don and Pam celebrated their 60th anniversary by taking a cruise to Noumea and Port Vila.
But the biggest surprise of all occured on the night of their anniversary when two of their children, Trevor and Wendy, turned up with their partners to help them celebrate. “We had no inkling at all,” Pam says. “It was just the most wonderful surprise and the perfect way to celebrate 60 years together.
“We feel very lucky.”