Kenmore community honours couple Ted and Nola Carlow

Ted and Nola are local identities in this Brisbane suburb where they’ve been waving at locals for decades. But they were blissfully unaware of the social media panic they caused when they hadn’t been spotted over Easter.

Ted and Nola Carlow back where they belong.

TED and Nola Carlow aren’t on Facebook.

If they were, the couple - aged in their 90s - would’ve known how worried locals were when they hadn’t been seen in their usual spots on their front porch where they’ve been waving at passers-by for decades.

“Does anyone know if the elderly couple who sit on their front porch right at the Kenmore roundabout are okay? I’ve been seeing them for years and suddenly not at all,” one woman asked.

Hundreds of locals expressed concern, or gave updates to say the couple had been spotted and all was well.

“I wish them many more years of watching the world go by. They are a Kenmore roundabout icon. Bless them both,” one woman wrote.

Others said the couple are a favourite with their children when they drive by.

Ted and Nola Carlow on their porch near the Kenmore roundabout.

“We always wave when we see them. My son refers to them as ‘my people’. He says ‘where are my people?’ when they aren’t there,” another woman wrote.

“We have a family competition to guess how many are outside when we drive past,” another said.

“I thought we were the only ones they waved to,” another wrote.

Over the years, locals said they had affectionately referred to the couple as everything from The Porch People, Ma and Pa, George and Doris, Mr and Mrs Pepperpot, Agnes and Keith, and Mr and Mrs Kenmore.

“They’re my retirement idols,” one local said.

Many said they’d been waving to the couple for decades.

“I’ve been waving to them since 1989 when my bus passed by them coming home from high school. I’ve kept up the tradition with my own kids now.”

Nola and Ted wanted to assure everyone they are fine, and as happy as when they met nearly 70 years ago at Nola’s cousin’s 21st birthday party.

Ted and Nola Carlow on their wedding day.

“I was working with Nola’s cousin, and he said ‘we’re going to a party tonight’ and I said ‘no way, pal!’,” Ted said.

At the party, it didn’t take Ted long to clap eyes on Nola, and the rest is history.

“I said ‘geez, she’s a good looking sort over there, mate’. The next thing you know, he goes over and then they beckoned me over, and this is the result. Lucky me, hey?” Ted said.

Back in the day, the pair travelled everywhere on Ted’s old Norton motorbike, and it was on one of their rides that they spotted the land where they’d build the home they continue to live in today.

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“We came up the hard way,” Ted said.

“We don’t want a big flash home. We’re happy. We’ve raised two daughters here,” Nola said.

Ted, 93, and Nola, 91, aren’t sure how long they’ve been waving at the locals, but it’s been a long time.

“Oh for ages, love,” Nola said.

“You see the kids wind the window down, they wave, and then the window goes up again. We’ll wave to anyone,” Ted said.