Cairns couple Graham and Rewa Real celebrate 60th anniversary
A Far North Queensland couple has celebrated 60 years of marriage alongside their best man and matron of honour in a special reunion. Read their secrets to a long-lasting marriage here.
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A Far North Queensland couple has celebrated a milestone anniversary alongside their best matron and matron of honour in a special reunion.
Bentley Park couple Graham and Rewa Real recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary, alongside best man Bill Mellor and matron of honour Jan Lidstone, who also celebrated diamond anniversaries with their respective spouses.
“I started in the railways as a cadet engineer in 1955 and Bill (best man), started in 1956 and we were both mad keen cricket players,” Mr Real said.
“My wife’s matron of honour is her cousin so they’ve known each other for years.”
The three couples, who married within weeks of each other, met with friends at the Shangri-La in Cairns for a special anniversary dinner.
“It was amazing because we got together on our 50th anniversary, so 10 years ago and sort of haven’t seen our best man for a lengthy period, though we are in on contact on the phone pretty regularly,” he said.
“We celebrated with champagne of course.”
In a bizarre encounter the week before the dinner, Mr Real said he met another man who shared his wedding anniversary.
“One of the strangest things was, I was having a haircut at a barber on Mulgrave Road – I was in one seat, and there was another bloke in the other seat,” he said.
“The other bloke mentioned he’s having a 60th anniversary on the Thursday and I turned around so am I.”
Mr and Mrs Real married on December 19, 1964, but their love story began at school.
“We met in 1954 through school in Townsville – she went to St Anne’s and I went to Townsville Grammar,” he said.
“Then went out on our working passes and I was a cadet engineer with Queensland Government Railways which took me to Townsville, Cairns and Toowoomba, before I finished civil engineering in Brisbane in 1960.”
While Mr Real completed his cadetship, Ms Real worked in Mackay as a clerical assistant.
“Then we parted for a while and got together again in 1962,” he said.
“We somehow got together, I think after she came to Brisbane, so after that, we got married in 1964 and I left the Queensland Railways and went and worked at Mulgrave Sugar Mill for 35 years.”
For more than three decades, the couple became involved in the Gordonvale community, particularly in golf, tennis and cricket clubs.
Mr Real said one of his favourite things about Rewa was her love for her family and community.
“She was always family oriented, always loved her family,” he said.
“Whenever she was put in a position of trust, for example in the ladies golfing, she tried to ensure that whatever she did was for the good of the area and the good of the group she was working with.”
Their secret to a long-lasting marriage?
“We’ve gone through the rough times and been able to always come to grips with those and be thankful of the good times we’ve always had,” he said.
“In 60 years you’ve gotta have a few arguments, but we always made sure that they weren’t prolonged and we sat down and spoke about what was wrong or how to go about making things better and it always worked out. We were aware of our limitations.”
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Originally published as Cairns couple Graham and Rewa Real celebrate 60th anniversary
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