JACK and Margaret Baglin will celebrate more than 70 years of marriage by returning to the church they were married in.
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Today marks their 73rd wedding anniversary and the Timboon couple will go out for dinner tomorrow evening, after attending a service at the Terang Presbyterian Church.
Mr Baglin, 97, and Mrs Baglin, 94, were married on Saturday, January 24, 1942.
They met at church during their teenage years. Mrs Baglin had moved to the south-west from Gippsland when her father purchased a bakery.
Mr Baglin was born in Terang and after uncertainty during the war, he asked Mrs Baglin’s father for her hand in marriage.
“It was during war years, at the time when Japan started bombing Darwin” Mr Baglin said.
“We didn’t know what was going to happen. We thought ‘gosh, darn it, we’re going to get married’.”
Mrs Baglin remembers going to the jewellers in Terang to pick out a ring.
“We both picked the same ring,” she said.
“Our wedding day was stinking hot with a north wind.”
The Baglins have three children — Gwen, Joan and John — and seven grandchildren.
The couple said the success of their marriage lay in spending a lot of time with each other.
“We did a lot of dancing,” Mrs Baglin said.
“Sometimes up to four times a week. We worked together and played together. We do everything together.
“You have to take things as they come. We’ve had some bad times, health wise, but you just have to keep going. If you’re looking for excuses to opt out you will find them.”
The independent couple have an expansive garden, and Mr Baglin is especially proud of his vegetable plots filled with tomatoes, carrots, peas, cucumbers, beans and zucchinis.
“I’m always in the garden mucking about,” he said. “It’s been a great life. As long as you get a good cook.”