John and Sheila Stafford are celebrating their golden anniversary.
The Sunbury couple commemorated 50 years of marriage on Saturday after a chance encounter at a Romsey milk bar turned into a long-lasting romance.
The pair met when Sheila was visiting Romsey, from Strath Creek, to help her sister run the local milk bar.
“When he wrapped his big arms around me, I knew that was it,” Sheila said.
“It was like coming home.”
Sheila and John dated for two years before they married on June 27, 1970 at Saint Patrick’s Church in Kilmore.
The couple moved to Sunbury in 1972 and together they had “five of the best children” Sheryn, Anthony, Christine, Damian and Louise. The pair now have 13 grandchildren.
“They are beautiful … it’s quite a crowd when we get together,” Sheila said.
“The saying is it takes a village to raise a child, but I think it takes a community and wider to keep a marriage very active and alive.”
Sheila, 70, said sharing the same values with her husband was one of the many reasons she has enjoyed being married to John for five decades.
“You are quite comfortable … when you have the same values and that has been good for our children,” she said.
“Listening is always important, and forgiveness, and not holding any grudges. We have certainly done that.”
John, 71, said spending quality time with his family over the many years always held a special place in his heart.
“We enjoyed travelling and camping together. We had a caravan once so we used to take the children whenever we could,” he said,
It’s quite an accomplishment these days, to last 50 years,” he said.
