“Some of my family thought it wasn’t going to last,” said Eve Farley, nee Bonato, the daughter of Italian immigrants who settled in Dandenong in the late 1930s.
“We were married on Friday the 13th too,” Eve said as she reminisced on 50 years of memories with husband Greg.
Greg Farley, 73, tells the tale of a high-spirited young man, who would “gatecrash” a 21st birthday party in Hallam one fateful night in 1971, only to meet the birthday girl, his future wife.
At the time, Greg was a 22-year-old national serviceman who had just returned from two years fighting in the Vietnam war.
Eve, a beautiful 21-year-old with big bright eyes and a relaxed nature, wasn’t so keen on Greg at the beginning. He was too old-fashioned, she said.
That was October 1971. A year later, the pair would marry at St Mary’s Church in Dandenong.
Eve wore a beautiful lace-lined white dress and a long veil crowned with daisies. Greg had a beaming smile on his face as the two celebrated their nuptials at a reception in Kilsyth.
The newlyweds quickly settled in their first home, a distinctive ’70s brick house in Narre Warren.
It would be the same home they would raise three children, Brett, Belinda and Kaysie, in.
It’s also the same home they celebrated their 50th anniversary in this week.
Eve recalls the home being one of just six in the estate at the time.
“[Narre Warren] has grown unbelievably. You can’t imagine what it was like back then,” Eve said.
“Across the road it was just cows coming up to the fence … it was all farm land.
“Back then the highway had only two lanes. There was nothing between here and the Hallam Pub,” Greg chimed in.
As Eve split her time between raising the children and working part-time in hospitality, Greg spent a loyal 40 years with the same locksmith company.
“As you can tell I’m not a fan of change,” he joked.
He’s also a passionate community man, liasing closely with the City of Casey throughout the years and helping out with Neighbourhood Watch, Dandenong Little Athletics and as the committee secretary for Max Pawsey Reserve, to name a few.
In 2008, he was made redundant from the locksmith company he worked at for four decades and subsequently retired.
But it was the beginning of some of the couple’s most fondest memories.
First it was a two-and-a-half-month long trip to Europe, including Italy to see Eve’s relatives, plus another 20-odd countries.
Then it was Canada, China, Japan, Thailand, New Zealand, Fiji, Vanuatu – the list goes on and on.
A particular highlight was a family trip to Bali several years ago.
Greg and Eve shouted all 15 family members the trip for Christmas.
The one destination left on Eve’s bucket list is New York City. She’ll visit next year with one of her daughters.
Greg will stay home and spend time with their eight grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
What’s been their secret to success over the last 50 years? It depends who you ask.
Eve will tell you it’s perseverance. Greg? “I just do what I’m told,” he says.
“Someone has to wear the pants,” Eve retorts.
While the couple share a matter of fact attitude to life and marriage, you only need to look at Greg’s phone lock screen – a picture of his dear ‘Evie’ – to see their romance lives on.
