Celebrating 60 years of wedded bliss Donald and Janet Richardson say the secret to a long and happy marriage is picking the right person to begin with.
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Retiring to Port Macquarie nearly two decades ago, Janet said, looking back their life together has been wonderful.
"I think we have had a happy life, two children and we have travelled around the country a few times," Janet said.
"I grew up at Coogee and Donald grew up on Sydney's North Shore but we have lived in a few houses over the years.
"We have been pretty self sufficient and Donald was always good with his hands being able to fix anything. We even renovated a house together which was a lot of fun."
The pair met in Papua New Guinea while Janet worked for Qantas and Donald worked as an airplane technician.
"I was sitting in one of the social clubs over there and I noticed Janet because she was one of the new Qantas girls," Donald said.
"After a little while I went over and introduced myself and from there it was natural. We had a lot in common and that was that."
They were married on April 27, 1959 in Randwick in Sydney by Donald's brother.
The pair both said that moving to Port Macquarie on St Patrick's Day in 2000 was the best move of their lives.
"I had grown up with the beach and as eager to find somewhere to retire on the coast and Donald had relatives in the Macleay area so after looking at places between Bega and the Queensland border we settled on Port Macquarie," he said.
"When we first moved here we contact a number of real estate agents and in the end we bought the first house we looked at because we fell in love."
Janet said one of the most memorable moments of their life was renovating their house in Sydney.
"We had great fun doing it up ourselves and it was just Donald and me," she said.
"I have great memories of that time and it was the house my son ended up being born in."
The couple celebrated on April 27 with letters from Queen Elizabeth 2, Leslie Williams, NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian and prime minister Scott Morrison along with friends and family.
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