Queensland couple Peter and Elizabeth Kent have been married for 73 years and they say that the key to their success is simple. That’s it: keep it simple. “We’ve never celebrated our wedding anniversary,” says Peter, 95 and laughs.
“We never saw the need to, because we know how lucky we are every day. We just had our 73rd anniversary and that’s the first time we decided to do something because we moved here!!!
“We don’t like a fuss. Our motto has always been to keep things simple so we can focus on our marriage.” The ‘Here’ which Peter refers to is the Aveo Freedom Care Community at Redland Bay in Queensland, which the couple decided to move to at a significant time in their lives.
“My wife, Elizabeth, is 92, and finally, we couldn’t drive anymore,” Peter explains. “We decided we needed to move somewhere that would support us, allow us to still keep a good lifestyle and be more calm.
“It’s amazing, we just love it. It has everything we need.” As we spoke, Elizabeth was at the hairdresser’s, and Peter was happy to talk about his life with his beloved wife.
“We met in 1942, when I was 18, and she was 15. I was stationed at Boggy Creek to assemble vehicles for the army,” Peter tells us. “The boys heard about a dance, so I was in charge of the transport to the dance, as the buggy driver.
I agreed to take others home. At the dance, I was sitting on the side lines watching everyone, and I noticed a girl with the most beautiful face. “I couldn’t stop staring at her. She sat up front with me in the buggy and we talked as I drove her home. And that was that.”
The couple’s wedding story is representative of their attitude to each other; uncomplicated and genuine. “I never proposed to Elizabeth. We just knew we would be together because we were so well-suited to each other,” he adds.
Peter is happy that they found a Freedom Care Community where he and Elizabeth can continue their long lives together. “Oh, we love it here. We just moved in, the unit it lovely, easy to clean but we also get help. The staff are forever looking after us, and the people with us are all friendly.
“I recommend it to anybody.” Peter says that he and Elizabeth are more comfortable than they could have imagined this late in life, and it’s because they have each other. “We have a little area at the back of our unit, and we sit there together in the mornings. Later, we go to the main center for morning tea,” he shares.