General News
10 March, 2023
Royal surprise adds to anniversary cheer
Who goes to their letterbox and expects to find a card from King Charles III? Ian and Maureen Lehmann certainly didn't. Yet, a week before their 60th wedding anniversary on March 9, a personal card arrived from Charles and Camilla congratulating...
Who goes to their letterbox and expects to find a card from King Charles III?
Ian and Maureen Lehmann certainly didn't.
Yet, a week before their 60th wedding anniversary on March 9, a personal card arrived from Charles and Camilla congratulating them on the event.
The inscription wished them heartfelt congratulations on their diamond anniversary.
"We couldn't believe it," Mrs Lehmann said.
"It was so exciting."
Not only that, but congratulations kept flooding in: cards from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Premier Dan Andrews, Anne Webster MP, and the Governor of Victoria Linda Dessau, to name a few.
It was all the brainchild of their friend Emma Keely, who wanted to give her friends the best anniversary ever - one they would never forget.
Ms Keely set the ball rolling, contacting all the right people and giving them notice of the couple's upcoming 60th wedding anniversary.
It couldn't be a better celebration for the couple, who are inseparable.
"The only time we aren't together is when I play bowls," Mr Lehmann said.
"Otherwise we share everything."
Mrs Lehmann agreed, adding that if anything happened to one of them, it would be a complete shock for the other.
The couple met at a debutante ball.
Mrs Lehmann was there with her cousin, whom Mr Lehmann mistook for her boyfriend.
It was a comedy of errors, so they didn't hit it off straight away.
"But I kept pursuing her and she gave in," Mr Lehmann said.
However, their engagement lasted three long years.
The obstacles were Mrs Lehmann's reluctance to give up work and their inability to afford a house.
In those days it was expected that a woman would stop working when she married.
It took so long that Mr Lehmann said his prospective father-in-law asked him whether he'd actually ever asked for her hand.
It was this hint that galvanised him into action.
With the local bank manager rating Mr Lehmann "responsible", they found the perfect place surrounded by a large orchard.
Mrs Lehmann put the secret of their long marriage down to their ability to laugh when things went wrong.
"You've got to be able to laugh - to laugh at yourself," she said,
Mr Lehmann agreed.
"And you've got to like each other," he said.
"You've got to be best friends, (which) we are."