WHEN 18-year-old Lorna Wright got into a neighbour's car, she didn't expect the short journey through Perthville would lead her to her future husband.
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But that fateful night she met Adrian Ryan, and soon after he was asking her out to the pictures.
Now, decades later, they are preparing to celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary.
Where their story began
It was the early 1950s when Mr and Mrs Ryan were introduced to each other.
"I was coming back from my father's home to go back to work, and my father's car was broken down, and my neighbour took me," Mrs Ryan said.
"As he was going through to go to Perthville, he said to me, 'Have ever you met the Ryans?', and I said, 'No, but my father knows them very well'."
The neighbour offered to introduce her to the Ryans and they made their way to the property.
"We stopped and we met Mr and Mrs Ryan senior and all the family - there was 10 children and Adrian was the eldest of them," Mrs Ryan said.
"It was really a nice night, because I've always been a singer, and we had a lovely singing night that night.
"My neighbour and my brother, we went on to go back to Bathurst for my work and I never thought no more about it."
However, the young Mr Ryan clearly thought fondly of the night, as the next day he came across her near a cafe in Howick Street.
"Adrian had pulled up in his father's Ford truck and I was so surprised to think that he sort of wanted to know me," Mrs Ryan said.
"We talked a little while and then he asked me out."
They went to the pictures together that night and, while they don't remember what film they saw, they do recall eating a box of Jaffas.
The rest, as they say, is history.
And then came marriage
The young couple dated for around two years before Mr Ryan proposed at his parents' property in Perthville.
They wed on May 8, 1954 at the Catholic Cathedral of St Michael and St John.
In the early years of their marriage, the couple both lived and worked together at the St Joseph's Convent in Perthville for nine years.
Mr Ryan was the caretaker and groundsman, while it was Mrs Ryan's job to cook and clean for the nuns and the boarders.
They welcomed their first child, daughter Julie, in 1955 and went on to have three more children: Jennifer, David and Cheryl.
They have since been blessed with five grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.
The family will come together on May 11 to celebrate Mr and Mrs Ryan's platinum anniversary at the Bathurst RSL Club.
When asked what the secret to long marriage is, Mrs Ryan said it comes down to four key things.
"If you want to know the secret, it's only hard work, trying to listen to each other, and supporting each other," Mrs Ryan said, adding that their faith has also been integral to their marriage.
"We've always had great faith."
After all these years, she said her husband's best qualities are how loving and supportive he is, and for Mr Ryan, the feeling is mutual.
"She was lovely to me and supportive and very good," he said.
They are looking forward to celebrating their anniversary, and are enjoying all the congratulations that are coming their way, including from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, King Charles and Queen Camilla, and even Pope Francis.
Rachel Chamberlain
I have been a journalist at the Western Advocate since 2014.
I have been a journalist at the Western Advocate since 2014.
