Dancing love over 60 years

By Danielle Galvin
AMY and Arthur Daymond’s love story is a classic, 1950s tale.
They met at a local dance in Modella more than 60 years ago, and it didn’t take long before the pair wedded and had four children. Amy was 18 years old when she married Arthur at the St Andrew’s Church in Warragul on 19 January 1952.
“They were the old 3UL club rooms in Warragul back then,” Amy said.
Last month, the pair celebrated 60 years of wedded bliss at the Noble Park RSL with a small group of friends and family.
“It was really nice,” Amy said.
On Thursday, Amy celebrated her 81st birthday.
Sadly Arthur, who is in a wheelchair after a bad fall last year at their home, couldn’t take his lovely wife out for a nice meal. However, he did spend the day with her at his nursing home.
Being away from him isn’t easy on Amy. She’s spent the better part of her life as his wife.
“He’s very content in the nursing home; he’s taken it much better than me,” she said.
Amy lives in Berwick across the street from her youngest daughter Jenny Cooper.
While she doesn’t have any off-the-cuff tips for a long-lasting marriage, she says her children have been a big part of her marriage and life.
“Especially Jenny – I’ll say to her that I’m not up to going somewhere and she’ll say you’re going!”
Jenny believes her parents have a love for country music in common and they’ve always enjoyed travelling together.
“They have always loved to dance and right up until the last six months they have continued to dance nearly every weekend,” she said.
“They also have a love for country music and would travel in their caravan to all the events all around Australia.”
With four children and nine grandchildren, Amy says she’s rooting for great-grandkids and she’s thrilled for the first grandchild to be getting married in March.
“I’ll have to get my knitting needles out,” she said.