“I always knew she was the one,” said Russel Secombe of his wife Annabelle, who chuckled incredulously at his comment.

“Really?” she said. “We were on-again-off-again in school but when I was about 18 and he was 20, something just clicked.”

Russel chimed in, “Well, you kept chasing me.”

With this sense of humour at the forefront of this interview, it’s easy to see how their marriage has lasted 65 years, and counting.

Russel and Annabelle were married at the Wauchope Methodist Church on March 22, 1952. They lived in Wauchope for 38 years before retiring to an ocean view at Lake Cathie.

Annabelle said it poured with rain on their wedding day, just like it did the day they marked their 65^th wedding anniversary last week.

Russel and Annabelle raised five children, three daughters and two sons. They are proud grandparents to 17 and great grandparents to 25 children. All keep in regular contact.

“We must have done something right, they are all in touch with phone calls just about every week,” Annabelle said.

The couple paid tribute to each other as credit to their marriage.

“He is a patient and loving man,” Annabelle said.

“I just say ‘yes dear’,” Russel joked.

“But just about everything we do, we do together. We have our own hobbies too.”

Annabelle said, “You’ve got to have a good sense of humour in a marriage.”

Russel said, “Yes, that goes a long way.”