Seaholme’s Linda and Len Findlay last week celebrated their 70th anniversary.
Mr Findlay, 93, was born in Altona, while Mrs Findlay, 90, moved to the area at age three.
Mrs Findlay said they both attended Altona Primary School.
“We knew each other as kids, but Len being three years older I didn’t have much to do with him at school,” she said. “But his brother and I were in the same grade.”
The two became a romantic couple during World War II.
“Len was in the air force – he joined up when he was 18 and I was 15,” Mrs Findlay said.
“I met him again on Newport station when he was on leave … there he was in his air force uniform looking very handsome and I thought, ‘Ooh, that’s Len Findlay’. We chatted on the train on the way home and he walked me home and that’s when the romance started.”
They were married at Altona Baptist Church on June 19, 1948.
After the war, Mr Findlay had his own business delivering ice in summer and wood in winter.
“My father had started a woodyard before and he had gone for many years,” he said.
“There was only one ice merchant here in those days, so we thought it was a good idea because the woodyard wasn’t very busy in the summer. To be the ice man, you were as busy as can be in the summer and not much in the winter, so we were able to help each other. The only refrigerators were in shops.”
He made headlines – “Ice man in smash stays cool” – when a train struck his truck.
When the demand for ice dried up, Mr Findlay went to work for Petroleum Refineries (now Mobil). Mrs Findlay (nee Trickey) worked for the Post Office, riding her bike over sand dunes to deliver telegrams.
Both have been very involved in community clubs and played local hockey, tennis and bowls. Mrs Findlay still plays bowls at Altona Bowling Club.
They credit their long marriage to having their own interests and a solid family base.
“I think being stoic helps as well,” Mrs Findlay said.
The couple has three children, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
