Elizabeth (Betty) and Albert (Alby) Murdock, have shared 68 years of happy marriage which, without the stern insistence of Alby’s mother when he was 17, might have never happened.
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“I wanted to sign up to be in the cadets when I was very young, they were looking for recruits,” Alby said of the life-changing moment.
“I had to get written permission from my parents because I was only 17, and my mum wouldn’t sign the papers, she said I was too young.”
At the time, Alby, who was the chairman of the Young Australian Labour Party, rather thought he was old enough to make up his own mind.
But there was little he could do about it, and, despite being “cranky” with the ruling, Alby acknowledged later that it was the best thing that could have happened to him.
“As it turned out, every very one of the fellows who joined the area I wanted to join died soon after, so I was lucky my mum didn’t let me go,” he said.
However, Alby wasn’t deterred from his dream, joining the army when he was 19 and spending four years in service.
“It was during that time I met Betty,” he explained.
Unbeknown to either of them, Betty and Alby had been living on the same Sydney suburban street for quite some time, and it was only by chance they crossed paths one fateful night in 1945.
“We met walking home from the pictures,” Betty said.
“He was 22 and I was 17,” she said.
“We were married in 1950.”
Sixty-eight years later, Alby and Betty share a son, Ross, and a daughter, Joy, and many grand and great grand children, spread far and wide across the State.
“We played plenty of sports, for two years I was even on basketball team that played on roller skates,” Alby laughed.
“It was a silly idea but a lot of fun. Betty played the bagpipes, she was very good. We also played some tennis on and off.”
A keen rugby enthusiast, Alby played with the likes of St George’s Mat McCoy and Ray Lindwall, and didn’t give up on his passion when he joined the army, joining the base supply team.
“It was really tough football, the army, air force, and country teams from Bathurst, Forbes and other country towns all played together,” he said.
Meanwhile, Betty was a distinguished wedding cake decorator, having won first prize in the Royal Easter Show for her work.
“I made my daughter’s wedding cake too,” she said.
“She was very good at it, she used to make them for lots of peoples weddings,” Alby added.
The happy couple relocated to Forster in 1980 when Alby retired and built an 18ft boat.
“We had wanted to move here for about two years before then, but waited until the right time,” Betty said.
