By REBECCA BILLS
IT IS a love that was made to last a life time.
Lilydale couple Elaine and Mac McCarthy have defied all modern day marriage odds and celebrated 60 years of wedded bliss last Thursday.
Mrs McCarthy from Woori Yallock and Mr McCarthy from Silvan said they came together at a dance held in Seville and could not take their eyes of each other.
“He was a bit of a sort,” Mrs McCarthy said.
“It was just 18 months later that we were married.”
Wed in a little church in Woori Yallock, which has since been destroyed, the couple said it was a hot and muggy November day with the bride and the bridesmaids dressed in dressed Mrs McCarthy’s mother hand made.
“In my family at that particular state my grandmother died six weeks before we were married and my sister had a baby a fortnight later,” Mrs McCarthy said.
“So we had a birth, a death and a marriage in six weeks.”
Five children and 10 grandchildren later, Mr and Mrs McCarthy said they could not be more proud of the family they have created.
“We had five children under the age of seven and Mac never changed a nappy,” Mrs McCarthy said.
“After we had the twins we worked out what was causing it.”
Mr McCarthy jokingly said when they come two at a time you think you better give it away.
When asked how to make a marriage last, Mr McCarthy said couples have to be well-trained with a bit of co-operation and support thrown in.
“I’ve also never cooked a meal in my life and I’m 83 and I’ve never been house trained,” he said.
“But really you grow together, you depend on one another – more so now that we have gotten older.
“We do everything together.”
Mrs McCarthy said that when people fall in love the rose coloured glasses fall off after a few years.
“The whole thing is you become really good friends and we have become that,” she said.
“Mac says he is Prince Phillip walking behind the Queen but really we just support each other.”
