Local couple celebrate 60 years of marriage

This post was contributed by Sharon Pratt.

For local identities Maureen and Graham Edwards, October 26, 1963 was a very special day, with two inches of rain on the day, and the only “glimpse of sunshine” the making of their wedding vows in front of the officiating minister, the late Rev. Teddy Broomhead, “for better or for worse” in the Old Murray Bridge Methodist Church. Maureen, Graham and their bridal party then walked outside, to be greeted by their many guests in “full sunshine”.

Moving on, the next 60 years of marriage have been an interesting and worthwhile journey. Their romance commenced in 1960 with a chance meeting at the old Methodist basketball courts through a friend of Graham and Maureen’s from the church youth group. Their romance blossomed, and the young couple became engaged in 1961. Two years later, they were married.

Over the years, Maureen and Graham produced three wonderful children – Sharon, Daryl and Anthony – and they have worked hard to establish their home, private, family, social, business and community interests, including church, Apex, Murray Bridge Golf Club and Frontier Services work parties in communities across Australia. This is not forgetting their other love in life, Graham Edwards Crash Repairs, formerly Schubert Crash, where Graham and Maureen started their career in crash repairs almost 60 years ago, on April 28, 1964.

The couple’s love and dedication to their family, now having grown to 20 and soon to be 21, have always been important in their lives, but they have always found time to travel Australia extensively, with the occasional trip/cruise overseas.

The culmination of all these things led to a truly memorable family, relatives and friends get-together with 75 people on October 22, 2023 for the couple’s celebration lunch at the Wanderers Cricket Club. The venue was decorated to perfection by Maureen and Mobilong Rotary’s catering officer, Bronwyn Heard.

At the 60^th, the “bride and groom” arrived in their magnificent black Mk 2 Ford Zephyr, replica of their wedding car, followed by invited guests. Many fond memories and greetings were had by relatives and friends who hadn’t seen each other for years, with even total strangers mixing together.

Graham’s best man and cousin, Brian Edwards from Perth, began proceedings as MC by welcoming all to the occasion. In turn, Graham introduced the wedding party from 60 years ago who were fortunate enough to be present.

At this point, Graham introduced the Rev. Darren Lovell from the Uniting Church, who gave a memorable blessing to Maureen and Graham on their special occasion before giving the meal blessing, which was followed by a delicious lunch served by Mobilong Rotary Club members.

At the conclusion of lunch, the official part of the day commenced with “the bride” (Maureen) doing what many guests commented as a first, not having ever been seen before.

Maureen then introduced their three children – Sharon, Daryl and Anthony – one by one, informing all present of their successes in life, and in turn, they introduced their partners, children and grandchildren.

As Anthony named Tyler, their only daughter of 16 years, the wedding march was played. Tyler entered the room looking absolutely stunning in her grandmother Maureen’s original wedding dress and veil. Tears of joy were seen in Maureen’s eyes as the guests applauded joyfully. For many relatives, this was truly a memorable family history lesson update as of October 22, 2023.

During the course of the afternoon, Graham, on behalf of his wife and himself, gave a very informative recollection of their past 60 years, including the secrets of a long, happy and successful marriage:

• talk things over;

• learn to give and take;

• accept constructive criticism;

• when in doubt, don’t be frightened to seek good advice;

• make faith play an important role in your marriage;

• work hard at keeping your families together.

At this point, MC Brian Edwards gave his recollections of some of his and Graham’s humorous “past years” as young lads before their marriages, then proposed a toast to the “bride and groom of 60 years” and asked all to drink a toast in their honour. This was followed by the cutting of the cake (with a replica version of their original cake watching on).

As the cake was served by Rotary’s Bronwyn Heard and her team of willing workers, additional speeches from Claude Minge and Ken Wells re the “old times” of Maureen and Graham’s lives in Murray Bridge were given. These were followed by Maureen and Graham’s daughter Sharon doing a presentation of certificates on this special occasion from the following:

• King Charles III and Queen Camilla;

• the Prime Minister of Australia, the Honorable Anthony Albanese;

• the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, His Excellency, the Honorable David Hurley and wife;

• the Governor of South Australia, Her Excellency, the Honorable Frances Adamson AC;

• the Federal Member for Barker, Tony Pasin MP and wife Fiona;

• the South Australian Member for Hammond, Adrian Pederick MP.

This was followed by MC Brian Edwards, on behalf of Maureen and Graham, thanking all for their cards, good wishes and for coming, before wishing all a safe journey home.

Locals support locals. Your support helps Murray Bridge News tell important local stories.