JEAN and Dominic McBride believe good living and having a good family have been key to their 60 years of marriage.
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The couple, who celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on February 27, first met when Mr McBride returned to a job in the Registrar General's department in Sydney.
He had returned from World War II and was looking for board and lodgings.
"We had a big house and Mum used to rent out rooms and Dominic was one of our boarders,'' Mrs McBride said
"But we still got along well with all the boys - our place was an 'open house', with lots of people coming and going."
Mrs McBride moved away in her job as a nurse and while she was away, Mr McBride became engaged, but the breakdown of that relationship led to the first steps in a life-long one.
"Jean used to propose to me every leap year," Mr McBride said.
The couple spent their working lives in Kirrawee, raising their three children, and a bad day at the football had convinced Mr McBride Kiama was far from the ideal place to plan retirement.
"I went to watch a friend play at Kiama Showground and it was a terrible day, it was freezing and windy - in fact anything but enticing and when I came home I said to Jean 'well we won't be retiring to Kiama'," he said.
"We actually looked at Moss Vale and even put a deposit on a place in Port Macquarie, but in the end we decided to check out places with a view in Kiama and an agent showed us the pink units in Dido Street in 1991 and we loved them - and they were so much closer to our family."
The couple, who now live in Kiama Downs, said there were no special secrets to 60 years of wedded bliss, apart from good living and having a good family.
"Family has been and still is just so important to us and we love having our three children and six grandchildren around," Mrs McBride, who also celebrates her 90th birthday this week, said.