Couple keeps religion out of their marriage

By Rebecca Fraser
GLADYS Trotter says a good marriage involves a lot of compromise.
And the Narre Warren resident would know as today (Thursday) she will celebrate her 60th wedding anniversary with husband Allan. Mrs Trotter said another thing that had led to their long and happy marriage was not bringing politics or religion into their relationship and respecting each other’s opinions.
The 79yearold great grandmother said she was a Catholic and her 83yearold husband had been brought up as Church of England.
But she was quick to add that they had never let their different religious backgrounds affect their relationship.
She said the pair, who have four adult children, had baptised two of their children Catholic and two of their children had been christened Church of England to keep things even.
The pair also married at the Methodist Church in Clayton where neither of them attended.
Mrs Trotter said the couple met through her sister who married Alan’s brother and she wrote to him while he was away at war.
“We met through my sister and were pen pals when he went to war.
“When we met we married a few months later.
“That is what you did in those times,” she said.
But the grandmother of six and great grandmother of seven said there had been no romantic proposal and it was not a case of love at first sight.
“His (Allan’s) father was a coal miner and he lived in a country gold mining town.
“We went up there and there was nothing there to do.
“I was really a city girl who liked to be out all the time so after three days I wanted to go home.
“When we got back home he said to me ‘well I suppose we oughta get married’.
“Those were his words and that was that,” she said.
The pair spent most of their married life living in Clayton and then Springvale and moved to Narre Warren 11 years ago to live with their daughter Kerry and her family.
Mrs Trotter said their marriage had involved a lot of give and take.
“On the whole it has been a happy marriage and we have had a lovely time.
“We have lovely good kids and our grandchildren and great grandchildren are beautiful and bring a lot of joy into our life.
“To me marriage is not a bed of roses but if you work at it, it will turn out fine.”
The Trotters will enjoy a family dinner tonight (Thursday) to celebrate their milestone. “I will be 80 in a couple more weeks so we decided not to have a party for our anniversary — you can’t do everything.
“We had a great night out for our 50th anniversary and the last 10 years have just gone by so quickly,” she said.