Couple going strong

By Elizabeth Lillis
ALBERT and Kathleen Boxall, who met in Ashvale, England, in their late teens, have just celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary.
The Pakenham couple celebrated the milestone last Thursday, 8 March.
“We met by a river. My brother and I were boating and we saw two girls sitting on the bank, we ran aground and stopped to chat,” Mr Boxall said.
They became engaged and began a longdistance relationship while Mr Boxall served in the British Navy during World War II and completed further military service after the war.
Between 1944, when they met, and 1952, when they married, much of their communication was by letter.
“I would write everyday,” Mrs Boxall said.
“We would receive the mail bag once a month and had to read our mail and destroy it in 48 hours,” Mr Boxall said.
Mrs Boxall said she still has some of the letters he wrote to her.
The couple’s families lived about 10 miles apart in Surrey, England.
They credit their successful marriage to living by their marriage vows.
“There are two things, if you make a promise keep it. Make a vow live by it,” Mr Boxall said.
“We have never really had a big argument,” his wife said.
“My sister gave me some good advice, never go to bed without resolving an argument.
“Say sorry even if it is not your fault; who can be angry with someone if they are sorry?”
“Today, 55 years ago, we would have been on the train, travelling to Cornwall for our honeymoon,” Mr Boxall said last Friday.
The couple moved to Australia in 1954. They settled in Lang Lang and their only son, Keith, was born in Kooweerup, seven years after they were married.
They returned to the area, settling in Pakenham nearly seven years ago after living closer to central Melbourne for a few decades.
They retired to Queensland in the early 1990s but with the arrival of grandchildren chose to return to Victoria.
The Boxalls have two granddaughters, Sally and Amber.
“We are very happy together and intend to stay that way,” Mr Boxall said.