South Burnett Times, Friday, 4 April, 2003 On Lifes Highway Essie and Alan GUSTAFSON of Wondai dont look old enough to have been married 63 years. Their faces are rosy and they joke with each other, sitting in their comfortable lounge overlooking Essiess roses bobbing along the fence. With the easy friendliness of country people they have everything ready for the interview, the photographs of their wedding, family shots and a photograph of the grandchildren on the china cabinet. I was 26 and Alan was 24, Essie confided, And now Ill be 90 on October. It hardly seems possible, but I feel no different. There was a twinkle in their eye as they recalled their wedding, and memories of that magic April day in 1940 are clear. Lots of people at the church, nice weather, married in the Methodist Church at Home Creek. It was a war wedding Essie said, so there was only family at the reception. We had our wedding breakfast around a big dining room table in my family home at West Wooroolin. The PUGH family consisted of eight girls and three boys. My mother had died three years previously and she always did the wedding arrangements for my other sisters, but I had to do my own, so we kept it small. What was the secret of staying happy although married for so long? They looked lost for a reason. Just live a normal life, Alan said. You have to find the right person and the right temperament mix. Otherwise, you just take life as it comes. Oh, and a beer a day and a small port wine every night. And take your minerals! They said they believed their story is no different to lots of others and wanted to be scrupulous about the facts in case someone may disagree or know more. At 90 years of age, and married for 63 years, whos going to argue? Then more photographs of Essiess family, her sisters, a surprise 70th birthday party, brothers, mothers, fathers, the pioneers. Essie was born at Crawford, East Wooroolin, in a house near Quarrie Road. A travelling midwife attended her birth as was common in those times. The road where the old house stood is almost impassable now. Essie said, but what stories these little settlements around the shire could tell. When Essie was 12 months old the family moved to West Wooroolin where four years later she commenced school. The nearest school building was at Home Creek, which was four miles distant, and too far for the children to attend on a daily basis. So the schoolteacher came to the children by holding classes at a neighbours house every Saturday for the first four years of Essies schooling. He then set work for the following week and marked their work from the previous Saturday. Alan came from Braeside, near Killarney on the Darling Downs where his father farmed wheat and maize. The family made the big move to Greenview outside Wondai, when Alan was six. How did Alan and Essie meet? Was this a long distance romance involving hundreds of love letters? It was easy, Essis said, we were neighbours but, she joked getting even I had to wait for him to grow up. Alan is two years younger than me. The GUSTAFSONs first home was on a dairy that they share farmed. Alan put in that Essie had never milked a cow until she married him. We had 80 cows, and Essie settled down real well with the machinery. Of course he added, I did the housework and putting away. This was one of Alans jokes but it wasnt far from the truth, because it turned out that when their daughter Jeanette was born, Essie was working in the cow yard when the first twinges of labour began. Alan left me there with the cows, Essie recalls, then went over to the neighbours to get them to run me into hospital. Such was the lot of a dairy farmers wife. The first pregnancy nearly ended in a drama too, Essie said. I got the pains at night just after we had loaned our car to Alans brother who wanted to go and visit his girlfriend. Well, Alan rode his push-bike in the pitch black of night to another brother a mile and a half away to get a loan of his utility to take me to hospital. But the utility had a 100 gallon drum of water on the back that was for the pigs. So they baled the water out using a four gallon tin, into the pig yard tank, and by the time Alan got back to the house, his first brother had returned with our car. So you can imagine how long all this took but even so, I got to hospital in plenty of time. Their three children were born during the war years and Essie recalls taking her own coupons for tea, sugar and butter and handing them into the Kingaroy hospital. The maternity section was upstairs and at night the hospital windows were blackened out to stop the light shining through. Alan and Essie share farmed and shifted several times during the early years of their life together, moving from West Wooroolin to Coolabunia to Charlestown and then purchasing their own farm at Greenview in 1946 where they lived until 1952 growing peanuts, maize, dairying and raising pigs. Alan believes that farm life is good for children because theyve always got something to do. Kids are interested in pigs and cows and the crops growing. But its a bit lonely for women. After selling their property the GUSTAFSONs moved into Wondai itself, where they joined in with the town activities. Wondai is a great place to live, they agreed, and they never regretted the move. Essie has been a member of Wondai QCWA now for nearly 50 years, taking her turn at being president and secretary of the Wondai branch. She is proud of the work the QCWA has done during the years, saying they are quiet achievers. No one really knows how much they have helped the community at times. She And Alan also played tennis and golf and Alan proudly added that Essie is the only woman golfer to get a hole in one on No 8 on Wondai golf course. Alan shared a carrying business in Wondai with one of his brothers, carting goods from the Wondai railway station when the rail service was more frequent. Following that, he was employed by the Wondai Shire Council driving trucks and then for a short while he had a taxi business one of the last on Wondai, until the service was restarted last year after a gap of about 20 years. Alan finally retired in 1980, and began to garden in earnest. Their garden in Cadell Street has always bristled with colour. In 1998 they won the best town garden and best vegetable garden section of the Wondai Garden Club Garden competition. Nowadays Alan tends his vege patch, growing sweet corn, Chinese beans, zucchini and pumpkins, still looking very prize worthy, with the assistance of a green fingered neighbour who Alan says share farms his vege plot with him. Ever keen to share a gardening secret, Alan extols the virtues of the new Chinese bean saying They produce well and never need spraying for insects. Then on to the memories. In the early days, my brother Norm and I bought an old Dodge car off our Dad and went to work for Boisens at Upper Yarraman. Mick Boisens father and uncle lived there; we worked for a shilling an hour and find yourself or keep yourself and they said in those days. There was a hut up there on the farm where we could camp and when we got there, there was already somebody in the hut so there was a new shed nearby, but no walls up, we put hessian around the corner and there was about three inches of red soil on the floor, and thats where we slept that was home for the next few months. I remember the dirt main street of Wondai where the bullock teams went. I remember the cream carters in the black soil and the Rhodes grass that would clog up the wheels making them spin, and youd have to get out and peel the dirt off with a crowbar. That was the only way to get the mud off the wheels. Before the Wondai butter factory was built the cream went by train to butter and cheese factories in Murgon and Kingaroy. Had life styles changed during the years? Entertainment they agreed. People cant entertain themselves like they used to. Kids say theyre bored if they are home from school for holidays nowadays. If we were home from school we thought it was wonderful; we entertained ourselves. There were tennis courts and cricket pitches everywhere in the country; they had them in all those little places like Home Creek and Charlestown and Coolabunia. On New Years Day everyone from West Wooroolin went for a big picnic at Reedy Creek at the junction of Reedy Creek and Stuart River. It was a great time. Everyone says seasons have changed and they have. If it keeps getting any drier well have nothing left. You could once just go along with your horse and plough and plant things and they would grow. And this was where the minerals that provide longevity came in. You have to substitute the minerals that are no longer in the soil. Theyre good! Outside the tassels on the corn are starting to brown in the garden and Alans green fingered neighbour arrives to do a spot of weeding. Alan gets edgy and thinks hed better be going outside to give him a hand. Inside the house, a purple orchid brightens the sleep-out. Good place here in the winter, they said, gets the morning sun right round. It is a peaceful place. An unseen radio is playing soft classical music. Perhaps this is the answer to their long marriage. Harmony, everything working together, and a quiet resignation of what life dishes out. Essis hardly looks a day over 70, well spoken with a quiet reserve but her eyes hold wisdom. Alans jokes never end about all the housework he has to do and Essie takes his ribbing in her stride as she has done for more than sixty years. Hes such a tease, she chuckled, I dont know how Ive put up with him. Wedding Notices (abbreviated) Aaron DUGDELL, son of Russell and Judy DUGDELL m. Leisa DIVLJAK, daughter of Barry and Jill COLQUHOUN 1 March 2003 St Michaels All Angels Anglican Church, Kingaroy Bridesmaids: Helen WOLSKI, Natalie DUGDELL Groomsmen: Drew DUGDELL, Matthew REEVES Flowergirl: Shanae DIVLJAK Page Boy: Jaydon DIVLJAK Dustin DERN, son of Ray and Shyrell DERN m. Simone HUNTER, daughter of Laurie and Yvonne HUNTER, both deceased 22 February, 2003 Taabinga Homestead Simone was given away by her younger brother Riordan and sister Alyssa Bridesmaids: Alyssa HUNTER, Rebecca FOSTER Groomsmen: Kieron DERN, Shaun WARMINGTON Birth Notices McCANN, Jade Stephanie: Annette and Eric are excited to announce the safe arrival of their long awaited daughter, born 27 March, 2003, weighing 6lb 10oz. Little sister for Jamie, Nicholas, Joshua and Ryan. Granddaughter for Chips and Shirley McCANN and Trish and Joe MAGEE. A great big thanks to everyone at Kingaroy Hospital. McMURDY-BUNN: Luke and Heather would like to announce the birth of Cody James McMURDY, born 27 March, 2003. Luke and Heather would like to thank the doctors and staff at Kingaroy Hospital. Funeral Notices BUTLER, (nee HAYWARD) Nellie Ruth (Ruth); Of Canowindra Aged Care Facility Kingaroy, formerly of Frederick Street, Wooroolin, aged 102 years, 1 month. Relatives and friends of Ruth, beloved sister of Alice, Stan, Les, Herb, Daph and Charles (all decd), loved aunt of their families and very special aunty of Lyn and Geoffrey BUTLER, loved granny of Elizabeth and family, Geoff, Nigel, Karen, Nathan, and Jeremy are invited to attend the service to celebrate her life to be held at the graveside at the Wondai Cemetery at 11.30am this morning, 7 April. HP Virgo & Son, Kingaroy, Nanango, Murgon and Wondai (07) 4162 1420 In Memoriam OTTO, Stanley (Bill); In loving memory of Bill. Lost to us on 5 April, 2002. Deeply missed and fondly remembered. Violey, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. OTTO, Stanley; In loving memory of dear husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. Passed away 5 April, 2002.Always in our hearts, Violet and family SHARP, Melva Elaine; 3 April 1998. It seems like yesterday when I said I loved and kissed you goodbye But 5 years and come and gone I havent stopped loving and missing you. Ray TAYLOR, Evan Charlie Tasman; In memory. Passed away 7 April 2002. Often a silent tear Often a wish you were still here. From your loving family, Daph, Vick and Glenn, Peter and Sue, Paul and Maried, Donna and John, John and Tracey and grandchildren. TAYLOR, Matt; 18 November 1969 to 1 April, 2002. Twelve terrible months. We miss you Matt. Love Mum, Dad, Paul, Shaun and Shiralee. ________________________________________________ Message sent using Dodo Internet Webmail Server