Mandurah couple celebrates 60 years together after love at first sight

Celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary at the Brightwater Care Group on Thursday Mr Jeffery confessed he was “after her” way before they met.

“I spotted a photo of Daphne on the mantelpiece at a friend’s house,” Mr Jeffery said.

But it wasn’t smooth sailing for the couple as Mrs Jeffery was with a man who later turned out to be her husband’s best man at their wedding.

“The wedding was beautiful, and it was meant to be with Baden as far as I’m concerned,” Mrs Jeffery said.

Meeting in 1953 at a mutual friend's wedding for five minutes, Mr Jeffery said it was worth taking the risk of leaving the army without permission.

“I couldn’t get a leave pass to go to the wedding so one of the other boys slept in my bed for the bed count and another guy stood in and took my name on the roll call,” he said.

“It was game if you got caught away without leave.”

The evening was drawing to a close and Mr Jeffery hadn’t spoken to his future wife knowing he might not have the opportunity to meet again.

“I said to the couple who were setting us up, I’ve got to get back for the head count,” Mr Jeffery said. 

“So my friend said ‘just wait in the car’ and he ducked inside and brought her out.

“We had a couple of minutes and a quick peck and I was on my way back to the army.”

With Mr Jeffery based in Victoria and Mrs Jeffery in South Australia, the couple were writing letters to each other every day.

When Mr Jeffery proposed he said it had to be done over the phone as he couldn’t afford the 16 pounds airfare to do it in person.

“We say to people we were engaged on Good Friday, married on Easter Saturday and our son was born on Easter Sunday but with a few years in between the events,” he  said.

Mrs Jeffery said they have both always looked after each other with honesty being important in a relationship.

One thing Mr Jeffery said he had never been forgiven for over the years was accidentally burning their love letters.

“When I went to Vietnam we started writing everyday again except for Sundays because we did a voice tape so I could hear our four boys,” he said.

“She kept them all over the years and I didn’t realise and threw them in the incinerator by accident."

Mrs Jeffery didn’t seem too phased by the accident on Thursday, saying she was sure she hadn’t been forgiven for a lot over the years too.

Since their romance, the Jeffery family has grown with their four boys scattered around the world from Mandurah to America.

“You’ve got to give and take quite a bit to last 60 years, it takes a lot of patience, cooperation, tolerance, honesty and understanding,” Mr Jeffery said.

“We still have all of this.”

Mrs Jeffery was diagnosed with Alzheimers last year and is living in Brightwater centre where her husband visits her every day.