Diamonds last forever and after 60 years of marriage today, it's also a fitting description for the strength of bond Tamworth's Leonard and Aileen Whitten have shared over the years.
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No easy feat by anyone's stretch of the imagination, Mr Whitten attributes their success to a solid "working partnership".
It is, and should be, one of the biggest commitments you ever make.
- Rex Whitten
Romance blossomed when she was 15 and he was 17, with Mr Whitten recalling how one act sparked a lifetime of love.
"I met her at the corner of Treloar Lane," he remembered with a laugh.
"She was carrying this piano accordion that was almost twice the size of her! So I helped her get it into her car."
The pair got married in Tamworth and are now settled at their farm in Gowerie, expecting their eighth great-grand-child.
"We were married young, just two years in and had three kids, and we lived in a little old house where snakes came up through the veranda floorboards with no water inside the house," he said.
Despite their celebratory party not going ahead as planned, the couple were stoked to receive their congratulatory letters from the Prime Minister, the Governor General, and most importantly, the Queen.
While Mrs Whitten now has dementia, Mr Whitten says getting married is one of the best things anyone could do.
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"It is, and it should be, one of the biggest commitments you ever make," he stated.
"We've been an ideal couple really," he said fondly.
"I just hope the kids will follow us."
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