It was the middle of a war when long time Tuncurry residents Bob and Betty Stewart said their vows in front of two witnesses at a rectory in Mereweather on March 23 1942.

Bob, 20, was on leave from the 5th Infantry Division of the army, while Betty, 17, was serving with the mess section (catering) for the airforce. 

The couple had met when Betty was just 16 years old at a tennis tournament in Newcastle. Friends nudged the pair together and romanced blossomed after an outing to the pictures. 

Only days after the wedding both returned to their duties. Bob was sent first to Western Australia and then to New Guinea, where he served for 18 months. He returned to Australia as a trainer but was discharged after suffering from malaria. 

The couple made their home at Cardiff and raised three children: two boys and a girl. The couple liked to holiday in Tuncurry and, when the time came to retire, they purchased a nice low level block and built a “homely home”, Betty said. 

“We love the people in Tuncurry. It’s a wonderful place,” Betty said. 

The couple joined the local bowling club and Bob performed well on the greens, while Betty was active with the club committee. What really drew them to the club were the people. 

“They were the nicest group of people we ever met in our lives,” Bob said. 

They are also active in the Lakeside Church in Tuncurry. 

It’s the simple things that hold a marriage together, according to the Stewarts. 

Now 93 and 90 respectively, Bob and Betty make sure they kiss every day. They hold hands. They spend as much time together as they can.

After all these years, Betty doesn’t take her husband for granted.

“He’s the most wonderful husband anyone could think to have,” she said. 

“And if anyone wants to take him off me, well you just try it.” 

Bob puts his feelings down on paper, sending Betty cards on her birthday, for their anniversaries and all the significant holidays, “real tear-jerkers”, Betty says. 

“She’s the only girl I’ve ever had,” Bob said. 

Betty gives people this advice: Everything can be solved with a kiss. 

“Marriage is a big thing – you can’t expect it to be easy. Work at it,” she said. 

“If you love one another and work to understand one another, you’ve got a chance. It doesn’t matter the size of the argument you’ve had, if you love the person you’re married to, go give him a kiss. You’ll work it out.”

The couple have two grandsons, four grand-daughters, three great grand-daughters and one great grandson. 

The couple plan to celebrate their 73rd wedding anniversary quietly with a group of friends.