Page 6 - Lansdowne Gardens Autumn Newsletter 2023
P. 6
6 LANSDOWNE NEWS, AUTUMN 2023
Meet our Residents
Richard & Yvonne Austen
While it may be more than 70 years since The pair had three children, a boy and two girls.
romance blossomed when they paired up for Sadly, they lost one daughter at the age of 21
activities at their local Lithgow church youth club, years. But to their joy, they have four
94-year-old lovebirds Richard and Yvonne Austen grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, and are
still only have eyes for one another. looking forward to the arrival of another great
According to Yvonne and Richard, the secret to grandbaby to add to their brood in June.
their marriage success is ‘never letting problems
The Austens moved into Landsdowne Gardens
or hard times get out of control’, making the
last September and they have always enjoyed
conscious decision to ‘think positively’, and
spending time together – they even spent their
‘working through issues together, as a team’.
working lives side by side in the family business.
After first meeting through their fathers, who In the first phase it was coal mining and transport
worked at the same factory, romance bloomed and went on to include beef cattle raising.
slowly for the couple when they started pairing
Travel is a shared interest, and trips from down
up for activities organised by the local church
the Nile to the Andes, from China to Mongolia
youth club.
and to India, The UK, Europe and The United
“She was a beautiful girl, always so well turned States have been highlights of their pair’s time
out and from a good family with very nice together, but Paris takes a bit of beating in the
parents,” said Richard. “We were friends first, most romantic destinations they’ve visited.
then love grew over the years.”
Asked whether romance can last a lifetime, both
In February 1952, after a year’s engagement, the said yes, describing true love as being completely
couple tied the knot at St Patrick’s Church in comfortable with one another, and not being able
Lithgow, then honeymooned in coastal Ulladaulla, to imagine life without the other person.
arriving home broke after spending their hard-
earned cash on a simple honeymoon.
