When Des Nicholson first met Val Heuston he walked her home. Over fifty years later they’re still together.
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That was in the 1967. On November 30,1968, the pair married in a ceremony at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Bendigo.
Four children and 14 grandchildren later the couple are celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary.
The Nicholsons’ wedding was small, followed by a reception at the Robin Cafe.
The newlyweds then set off for their honeymoon: a weekend in Mrs Nicholson’s sister’s house in Glen Waverley, Melbourne.
On their return they lived with Mrs Nicholson’s parents in Long Gully, before moving into the Bendigo home, where they still live today.
The couple had met at the house of a friend Mrs Nicholson used to “knock around with”.
Mr Nicholson came round one night for a game of cards, and the pair hit it off.
Mrs Nicholson said she just knew he was the one for her. She had never gone out with a man who made her feel the way Mr Nicholson did.
“I just sort of had that feeling. I was happy,” Mrs Nicholson said.
“I’d been out with other guys but they didn’t make me like he did. He just sort of made my heart go pitter-patter.”
He just sort of made my heart go pitter-patter.
- Val Nicholson
Mrs Nicholson had moved to Bendigo around 1967 from Melbourne to work as a clerk at the ordnance factory.
She’d always had a nanna here, so had been a frequent holiday visitor.
Mr Nicholson moved to Bendigo at the age of 18 to work on the railways.
The pair went out for about eighteen months before Mr Nicholson proposed, while they were walking home one evening.
When he asked Mrs Nicholson to marry him, Mr Nicholson had barely a cent in his bank account. They had to wait until his next paycheck to buy a ring.
They were married in front of about fifty friends and family in November.
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Nearly a year later Mrs Nicholson gave birth to the first of their four children Thomas, followed by Julie-Anne, Sandra and Gail.
The couple now have 14 grandchildren ranging from the age of three to 22.
And the secret to a happy fifty year marriage is a simple one apparently.
“We sort of talk to each other and don’t have any secrets and that, and we’re still as happy now as when we got married,” Mrs Nicholson said.
Normally Mr Nicholson sends Mrs Nicholson flowers for their anniversary, but this year they’ll celebrating with a weekend getaway to Swan Hill.
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