By Sheree Hoddinett
Love is in the air! It would seem our beautiful Island and surrounds are places very much filled with stories of love and romance. When I reached out to the community to hear some of your special stories ahead of Valentine’s Day, many of you were keen to share your love with others. Proving love can conquer anything, here are two stories that will definitely have you saying “Awwwww”.
Trish and James Howarth
From Ningi and now living in D’Aguilar
For Trish and James, their love story spans many decades. It all started back in 1969-70 when the couple dated for almost two years, but then split and went their separate ways. Trish was heartbroken but eventually moved on, married someone else and had seven children! James also married someone else and had two sons.
“I’d often looked to see if he was on Facebook, but only found one of his brothers that had moved to Queensland and lived nearby to the Westpac branch I’d just been transferred to,” Trish said. “His children were in the local pony club and on my first day at the branch, a fellow came in to bank the pony club money. We got to chatting and he happened to be James’ brother’s best mate. Apparently a lot of messages were exchanged that New Year’s Eve in 2014. I walked into work on Friday January 2 and answered the phone to find it was the love of my life on the other end. I hadn’t seen or heard from him in 44 years. After an awkward conversation we agreed to stay in touch. By the end of January we drove half way to meet up, James from Cootamundra and me from Ningi. All went well, he came to Queensland for six weeks, we dated and eventually moved in together. In December 2016, we married and it’s been bliss ever since.”
Helen and Kevin Cornish
From Bongaree
Before meeting Kevin, Helen had just left a convent boarding school and moved from her family’s rural property to live with her strict Catholic grandmother in Kingaroy. Her interaction with the opposite sex was limited. The day before she was due to start a new job in a fashion retail store, Helen found herself at the local swimming pool trying to cool off on a very hot day.
“As I stood in the shallow end of the swimming pool watching the teenage boys chasing the scantily clad girls around the pool, I was in disbelief at their brazen behavior,” she said. “One guy in particular sparked my interest ... his tiny white Speedos leaving nothing to my imagination (which was very limited at that point). Suddenly he spotted me and jumped in beside me. I was not amused and thought of the stories I had been told by the nuns trying to divert my eyes. Hurriedly leaving the pool I dressed and began my walk to grandma’s home.”
An FJ Holden with the cheeky guy at the wheel (and a few of his mates) pulled up beside Helen as she walked home and asked if she wanted a lift. Despite politely declining their offer, they continued to ask until she arrived back at her grandmother’s house.
“The next day whilst being trained in the store, the same young man walked past to the Woolworths store next door, he was wearing overalls and I soon realised he was the refrigeration mechanic,” Helen said. “He walked backwards and forwards giving flirty smiles much to my disbelief. Of course that afternoon he was waiting out the front and once again he asked if I would like a lift home and once again the answer was no thank you!”
It seems Kevin wasn’t going to give up easily and continued his path of wooing Helen for the next week until finally asking her why she wouldn’t take up his offer of a lift.
“My reply was that I didn’t know him and I had not been introduced,” she said. “The following week he arranged for a girl I worked with to introduce us and then of course asked me again if I would let him at least drive me home. I reluctantly took the lift ... the beginning of a long love story. Of course, a request for a movie date followed but that required my grandmother’s permission. He arrived to take me out with his periwinkle shoes, long sleeved white shirt football, cuff links, a Fonzie hair style and smelling like old spice aftershave. Little did he know that a decade of the rosary was required before leaving for our date and strict instructions to come directly home after the movie.”
The couple were engaged after two years and married four years after they met. This year is their 55th wedding anniversary (February 3) and Helen’s birthday falls on February 14.
“We started with nothing, worked two jobs each whilst raising our two children,” Helen said. “We lived in remote mining locations in Papua New Guinea, on Groote Island and all over Queensland. We now have seven adult grandchildren and four great-grandchildren and after travelling Australia for seven years in our caravan, we have made our home here in paradise. Two lots of cancer and a brain tumour and that cheeky flirty guy is still picking me up, but thankfully the white Speedos have gone.”
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