Tom and Yvonne Baverstock-Ward would never have imagined when they met more than 85 years ago as children that they would be dancing into the twilight of their lives together.
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Taking in the warm summer's sun through their bedroom window at Eden's BUPA Aged Care Residence, the couple reminisce over their journey of love found when it was least expected.
Yvonne recalls meeting Tom at a church convention when she was around eight years of age. The pair had been friends as children, but life took its path and so did Tom and Yvonne.
Happily married to her first husband for more than 41 years, Yvonne never imagined she would tie the knot for a second time round.
"I had 41 years of bliss, it was beautiful - pure bliss," Yvonne says, a joyful lilt lifting her voice.
"When he passed away I didn't think of marriage again."
Tom was also happily married and he and his first wife had lived a life of travel before she passed away. He too didn't think he would ever remarry.
After the old friends met up again they became close.
Tom says he can distinctly recall the day he asked for Yvonne’s hand in marriage.
“She was going out the door, and she said she was going out somewhere," Tom says.
"I said well you can just stop right there and marry me. And she didn’t go any further.”
Yvonne was surprised by Tom's proposal.
"I said 'Oh it’s a big story' - I mean I had a very happy marriage for 26 years," Yvonne says.
After talking it over with her family, Yvonne decided to take the plunge.
All we knew is that we belonged together and that was all that mattered.
- Yvonne Baverstock-Ward
“We decided it was better to have the company of an old friend than to be alone, it was a big decision.”
Their wedding photograph takes prominent position on the side board in the couple's room at Bupa Eden.
The photo, taken in the back seat of Yvonne's daughter's Chevy, shows the newlyweds smiling blissfully before they were whisked away for their honeymoon.
The bride wore a silky satin pink dress and the groom wore a tie to match. The material was a keepsake left over from Yvonne's first marriage.
"It was left over from my first wedding and I just never had the chance to use it. I had a dear friend make the frock and the tie and then we had some beautiful flowers to match," Yvonne says.
When asked where the couple honeymooned, Tom says, "at home".
Yvonne joyfully finishes his sentence as married couples do.
"It didn't matter - all we knew is that we belonged together and that was all that mattered."
