Brisbane couple Elaine and Noel Sparksman to celebrate 73rd wedding anniversary on Saturday

A Brisbane couple who on Saturday will celebrate their 73rd wedding anniversary say the secret to a healthy marriage is listening and having a “happy, positive” attitude.

Elaine and Noel Sparksman will celebrate their 73rd wedding anniversary on Saturday. Picture: Tara Croser.

A Queensland couple who received a papal blessing from Pope Francis will tomorrow celebrate their 73rd wedding anniversary at the same church where they said ‘I do’.

Carseldine residents Elaine and Noel Sparksman will mark the special occasion during a mass at St Stephen’s Cathedral in Brisbane on Saturday after they were originally married there by Monsignor Leo Carlton on Saturday, May 3, 1952.

Before they were Mr and Mrs Sparksman, Elaine and Noel, now 94 and 95, met as teenagers on the Gold Coast.

“We met when we were teenagers and on the beach at Coolangatta,” Mrs Sparksman said.

“He said hello and I said hello back, that’s how we met.

“We were engaged for 12 months and then married, I might add that in those days you lived at home until you were married and then off we went.

“We were on the beach at Kirra, right near the border. We were both Catholic, that gave us a lot of things in common.”

Elaine and Noel Sparksman were married on May 3, 1952 at St Stephen’s Cathedral in Brisbane.

The couple went on to raising six children as they moved to Papua New Guinea, returned to Australia to live at Canberra, before settling in Brisbane at Windsor.

“We had two born in Port Moresby, two in Canberra, and two born in Brisbane,” she said.

“They’ve all attended Catholic schools and all been university trained in their different fields.”

In addition to their six children, they have 12 grandchildren, and six “and a half” great-grandchildren. “There is another one on the way,” Mr Sparksman said.

On their 70th Wedding Anniversary, they received a Papal Blessing from Pope Francis, which was marked at a special mass.

“We have been blessed, I feel that we have been blessed by God all through our marriage, and it’s just a symbol of that blessing,” she said.

Elaine and Noel Sparksman (both pictured far right) were married on May 3, 1952.

In sharing the secrets to a long marriage, Mrs Sparksman said her husband is a good listener.

“If I have something to say, he just listens and says nothing,” she said.

“He is very easy to live with and we don’t argue.

“It’s a different sort of love when you turn 90, but it’s still love.”

Mr Sparksman said having a positive attitude will also help a marriage go a long way. “If you can maintain a happy outlook, it definitely helps,” he said.