Since their wedding, 70 years ago to-the-day, Peter and Beryl Meeking have travelled the world together and seen four generations of their family grow.
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First meeting then-15-year-old Beryl in Kew, then-16-year-old Peter was drawn to her immediately.
“I took one look at her, she had these big, beautiful brown eyes, ” he said.
“Then I took a second look at her and the rest of her was pretty good too!”
In true 1949 fashion, Peter spoke with Beryl’s father asking to be her boyfriend.
He was met with strict instructions and the threat of her older brother.
“I found out where she lived and I went and called on her and I said would she be my girlfriend,” Peter said.
“She said, ‘you have to see my father’.
“So I spoke to him and he said exactly how I should look after her, and he said also her big brother will be watching you.”
It was Beryl’s big family that ultimately welcomed Peter as one of its own.
“There were six (siblings),” he said.
“From that particular day, they really became my brothers and sisters.
“We got very, very close and as the years went through we did a lot together.”
The pair was married at Kew Congregational Church on Monday, March 14, 1955, before honeymooning in Sydney.
While a Monday wedding is unconventional, Peter’s parents worked on Saturdays, so the couple took advantage of the Labour Day long weekend.
“It was wet,” Beryl said.
“Peter’s mother and father had a theatre business, a lolly shop thing, and they had to work on the Saturday, so we got married on the Monday public holiday.”
Peter and Beryl went on to have two children, a daughter, Jennifer, born in 1958 and a son, Ross, born in 1959, who now lives in Kyabram.
The close extended family grew and grew, with multiple generations, including Peter and Beryl’s five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, filling seats at family get-togethers.
“From that six, there’s a lot more,” Peter said.
“On Beryl’s 90th birthday, our son took us down to Melbourne to have a get-together with a few friends.
“We got to the Doncaster Hotel and there were 42 people there.”
In their 70-year marriage, the Meekings have travelled far and wide as a pair, to places like Canada and Alaska, China, New Zealand and Europe.
Despite the beautiful sights, they always enjoyed returning home to their family and friends.
“We’ve been all over the world,” Peter said.
“Probably five trips overseas ... we saw lovely places.
“But, it’s always nice to come back to Melbourne.”
Like many former Melburnians who call Echuca-Moama home, the Meekings originally came to the area as visitors.
The couple purchased a caravan in the 1970s, spending weekends and holidays at the Murray Bank Caravan Park.
During retirement, they built a house in Echuca-Moama in 1989, eventually moving into Cunningham Downs about 18 years ago.
Despite being 90 and 91, they continue to live independently, enjoying the friendship and sense of care provided by the community and even making regular trips into town for coffee at Essen.
After 75 years together and 70 married, they still have a deep admiration for each other.
“She’s very strong,” Peter said.
“She’s very intelligent — look who she married — she’s family-orientated, she can do anything.
“I can bring in the ladder, give her the hammer and the nails, and she does everything.”
It is clear that some things never change.
“Even now that we’re in our 90s, I still tick him off sometimes,’’ Beryl said.
“It’s been a happy marriage ... for the years we’ve been together, it’s been good.
“It’s been a good partnership, it really has.”
Cadet Journalist