By Brendan Rees
Cranbourne couple John and Shirley Venville celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary last month.
The lovebirds married 60 years ago at St John’s Church in Dandenong on 27 September, 1958.
They marked the milestone occasion with a party surrounded by 80 friends and family at the Trios Sports Club in Cranbourne on Saturday 29 September.
John, 81, and Shirley, 79, met while working at a textile factory in Dandenong.
Asked if he could recall how old they were, John says “Oh crikey, I was only 18 or something at the time, she was about 16.”
John says he ran into Shirley “up the street one day and asked her out.” From there, the couple’s relationship blossomed.
“We had a casual acquintance for a while and then sort of went out together for about four years,” John says.
“Her mother decided it was time we got married,” he laughs.
They have four children, 11 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
The pair lived in Dandenong for a while before moving to Cranbourne in the early 60s where they have remained.
“We moved out here when it was a one horse town,” John says.
John worked as a welder for a gas and field company while Shirley worked at a carpet factory, and in recent years had turned her hand to waitressing at Trio Sports Club.
Shirley has held the position of president of the Cranbourne Bowling Club (where she is also life member) and remains an active and well-known member of that club.
John is also life member of the Cranbourne Junior Football Club, in which he was the founding member.
He volunteered as a sports trainer for the Hawthorn Football Club VFL in the early 80s before assisting the senior players at Tooradin Football Club.
Asked what their secret is to a happy marriage, John says: “I joke about it but of course; it’s not true. A good long life marriage is do what your told, sit down and don’t back answer, you’re wasting your time.
“It hasn’t been like that; it’s been a very amicable relationship and we rely on each other and that’s the way it’s been.”
Shirley says: “I’m lucky to have a lovely husband. We work things out as we go along which doesn’t seem to happen much these days.”
