While celebrating her 70th wedding anniversary with Ken Kearney, 94, Betty, 87, said the key to a happy marriage was simple.
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It just takes a big heart and forgiveness.
And this, she joked, was something she learned on day one – January 15, 1949.
The first thing that happened after the young Warrnambool couple tied the knot at East Melbourne’s Holy Trinity Church, Betty said, remains clear in her memory.
“We got in the cab and rather than saying how beautiful I looked, Ken asked the driver about the results of such-and-such horse race,” she said.
“I can’t remember that, but I don’t doubt it happened,” Ken replied.
Ken, originally from Port Fairy, met Betty two years after serving in the Second World War.
He fought in the 2/23rd Battalion and participated in the Battle of Tarakan in 1945, played out on an island roughly four kilometres off the coast of Borneo, where he would survive a close call.
“The Japanese were firing mortars at us and I popped behind a tree,” he said. “But being the boofhead that I am, I got hit in the side of the head, with no helmet on, and spent a week in hospital.”
And while the couple received letters of congratulations from the Queen, the Governor-General and the Member for Wannon, Betty Kearney was surprised to get attention from the local media – despite reading The Standard for 70 years, this was her first time in the paper.
“I didn’t think there would be all this kerfuffle,” she said.
“The letters are quite a thrill and I’m very proud of them, because I don’t think we’ll be here for our 80th anniversary.
“We’ve still got our wedding photo, which cost 35 pounds at the time, and I don’t think Ken has gotten over the price of it just yet.”
Ken said it was “hard to believe” 70 years had gone by since he got married at 24-year-old.
“We get along nicely,” he said.
“And so far, so good.”