How a welder helped forge a 60-year partnership
Coffs couple Fay and Trevor Rollans celebrate epic milestone despite an unusual first anniversary present
Coffs Harbour
Don't miss out on the headlines from Coffs Harbour. Followed categories will be added to My News.
It may sound odd, but sometimes there is nothing like a welder to help forge a 60-year marriage.
Today, Fay and Trevor Rollans celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary, a relationship which began like so many others of the time, at the local dance.
Heading to a film, a dance at the Coffs Harbour School of Arts and then a burger at the beach was a Saturday night ritual in 1957 and the couple joke about what set Trevor apart during their courtship.
Back in the day when a lift “out of town” constituted a short drive to Macauleys Headland where Fay grew up, with a knowing smile Trevor explains that when lining up against a friend for the affections of the young woman – it all came down to his car.
“He had a pushbike,” Trevor said.
“We always joke that she chose me because I had a car to drive her home, (my friend) had to take the other girl home on a pushbike.
“And that’s how it started.”
The couple were married almost three years later on January 28, 1961, beginning a 60 year partnership that produced three children, six grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
The couple also fostered more than 20 other children, something they continue to look back on fondly.
While Trevor worked for the Forestry Commission for 43 years, Fay hosted “bank boys” in part of their self-built Upper-Orara home, with up to three trainee clerks travelling up from Sydney and staying with the family by arrangement with ANZ and the Commonwealth Bank.
The couple became a big part of the Orara Valley community, working on the Orara Valley fair and being part of the famed Melodramas which ran at the Upper Orara hall for more than 25 years.
When the discussion turns to the secret to a long and happy marriage, communication and compromise comes across as two important themes.
While they are quick to point out they have had their fair share of ups and downs like any relationship, they have always listened to one another and stuck together.
“We have always talked things over and we think alike,” Fay said.
“In marriage you work together and you make a life together – sometimes when you see couples doing too much independently … it (can) drive a wedge between the couple.”
It’s at this point that Fay recounts a story which gives a glimpse into what compromise really meant for a young couple beginning a life together in a new home.
It’s the story of the welder.
“(Compromise is) when your first anniversary comes around and you want a buffet for the house but we need a welder to do the railing around the house, you have to weigh it up. Do I need a buffet or do we need the welder,” Fay said.
“Well, the welder lasted about 50 years and it did so many jobs … it did everything that we ever needed. It was a massive part of our life that welder, it really was.”
And for those still on the edge of their seat, “I got the buffet (eventually)” Fay says with a smile.
Got what it takes? Police scoping out future crime-fighters
Police have kickstarted a new initiative on the Mid-North Coast in efforts to lock in future officers across regional NSW. Here’s what’s happening.
Hundreds of sandstone blocks to protect critically endangered birds
Never mind the bollards: Hundreds of sandstone blocks have been left on a Coffs Coast foreshore to protect critically endangered shorebirds increasingly at risk of extinction.