John and Kay Gallagher recently celebrated their golden wedding anniversary with a lunchtime gathering of family and close friends at the Railway Hotel.

The boy from Boggabri and the girl from Armidale met in Gunnedah when Kay came here to work at the Bank of NSW, and she sought out a mechanic to repair her troublesome car.

Although they grew up in different parts of the north west, the attraction was mutual for the pair and 50 years later they still live happily in the home they built in Hopedale Avenue in 1975.

Their wedding was held on April 7, 1973, at St Peter’s Anglican Cathedral, in Armidale. Kay’s sister Cheryl was bridesmaid and her little sister Fiona was flowergirl, while John’s brother Kevin was the best man.

The couple spent their honeymoon on the Gold Coast before returning to Gunnedah to begin their married life together.

Kay Witherdin grew up with her two sisters at Jeogla where her parents had the telephone exchange about 30km from Armidale, while John was ‘born and bred’ in Boggabri – one of nine children.

John trained as a mechanic in Boggabri and then moved to Clifton’s in Gunnedah as foreman/service manager, while Kay entered the banking industry and moved to Uralla for her first posting before taking up the relief position at Gunnedah.

In 1977, they took over the Esso Service Station opposite the Catholic Church in partnership with Kevin and Judy Gallagher. Esso later became Mobil.

John and Kay raised two daughters – Jayne, who joined the NSW Police and is now based at Inverell, where she lives with her husband Edward Griffey and children William, James and Jillian. Their younger daughter Emily is a teacher and lives locally with her husband Darren McInerney and children Toby and Sarah.

The five grandchildren bring a great deal of pride and joy to Kay and John, who have travelled all around Australia in their caravan since retiring in 1997, but are now happy to be at home and enjoy watching their family grow.

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