Married at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church 60 years ago, Gunnedah’s Marj and Athol Whiteman were celebrated by family and friends with an afternoon tea at their Oaktree Village home recently.
Like many other couples, Marj and Athol have shared many happy occasions but also the tough times when they stuck together and worked as a team. Marj says it’s about understanding and communication and working things out together.
Their wedding day on April 24, 1965, was a happy occasion, with Marj’s sister Edith Toynton (later Vette) and friend Dianne Ellwood as bridesmaids and her brother Kevin one of the groomsmen, along with a friend Tom Buckuner.
After the reception, Marj and Athol headed off for a road trip along the coast as far as Brisbane, and made their home at Omabah, a property near Coonabarabran where their two children Narelle and Raymond were born.
Born in 1934 in the Depression years, to William Whiteman and Dessie Knight, at Bathurst, Athol attended Lagoon Bush School, while Marj came into the world at Wellington, in 1941, the daughter of Edna and Fred Toynton.
Marj began her education at Maryvale Bush School riding a horse three miles each day. When the family moved to Coonabarabran after the war, she became a boarder at the Presbyterian Ladies College in Armidale.
After school Marj helped on the family farm at Borah Creek and Athol worked for Hazelton’s, providing mechanical services for the company’s crop dusters.
Athol’s next position took him to New Guinea where he managed a coconut plantation near Rabaul for three years. On his return, Athol bought a farm with his mother at Yaminbah Creek, between Coonabarabran and Rocky Glen.
The couple’s lives became intertwined when they met at a ball held in the Borah Creek Hall and after a three-year courtship, they tied the knot which has held fast for the past 60 years.
Athol’s work often took him away for weeks on end carting wheat and other grains, driving a bulldozer, loading hay bales and clearing dams, while Marj kept the home fires burning, looking after their two small children, Narelle and Ray, the cattle and sheep and milking the cow each day, before separating it from the cream and making butter. Education for the children meant driving six miles each way to catch the bus for school at Coonabarabran.
The couple also battled the drought of 1977 and a bush fire that came too close for comfort.
After selling the property and moving to Gunnedah, Athol worked as a welder in the Co-Op workshop and later at Peel Valley Machinery where he was in demand as a field mechanic, for 30 years travelling all over the north west and across the border into Queensland.
Their home was at 242 Bloomfield Street, for 10-12 years and the children attended Gunnedah Public School, where Marj volunteered in the canteen. From there Narelle and Ray completed their education at Gunnedah High School and then spread their wings into the wider world.
The couple’s next move was to 5 Stanley Street, and then McAndrew Street where they enjoyed their garden and Athol volunteered to set the sprinklers at Ken Green Park across the road, keeping the lawns looking fresh and green. They were also dedicated members of the Gunnedah & District Historical Society
where Athol applied his handyman skills to carry out many maintenance jobs.
Four years ago, they made the decision to downsize and move to Oaktree Village where they enjoyed their time until Athol’s health began to decline. Today Athol lives at Mackellar Care but he was out for the day to share this momentous occasion, catching up with old friends and posing for family photos, before cutting the anniversary cake adorned with decorations from their wedding cake.
Proud grandparents to Racheal (Hendroff) and Luke. Athol and Marj were devasted when they lost their grand-daughter Julie suddenly to a brain haemorrhage last year but the joy of being grandparents has enriched their lives.
