Alwyn and Terry Williams of Pakenham recently celebrated their milestone 50th wedding anniversary.
This year also saw them celebrate 50 years of living in Pakenham.
In January 1971, Terry took up a position in the valuer’s department in what was then the old Shire of Berwick.
After their marriage on 21 August 1971, Alwyn joined him in Pakenham and initially took up a teaching position at the Narre Warren School and the following year at the Pakenham Consolidated School.
Both growing up in Central Victoria, with their wedding taking place in Castlemaine, the move was a big one.
But with the Pakenham township having just over 2000 people, it became easy to meet new people and become part of the community.
Their community involvement has continued as their three children became involved in local sport and activities and is probably at its busiest at the moment where Alwyn is currently the District Chairman of Inner Wheel District A62 and Terry is President Elect of the Rotary Club of Pakenham for the second time in his 31 years in Rotary.
Their three, now adult children, all attended school in Pakenham, both at the Consolidated School and later at Beaconhills College.
Like their parents, all have moved away from where they grew up as they have pursued their careers and subsequently married and had families of their own.
Andrew is a carpenter in East Gippsland, Kinta a music teacher (and she would also claim to be a farmer) on the South Australian border near Penola, and Tristan, a naval architect who has lived and worked in the Netherlands for the past 15 years.
With five grandchildren, Alwyn and Terry had hoped for a rare family gathering to celebrate their special day, but Covid restrictions put a stop to that.
It was to be a double celebration as their eldest grandson, Harvey, turned 18 on the same day!
However, a quiet day at home with Skype contact with the family was the best that they could organise – and Harvey’s cake looked fabulous!
For both Alwyn and Terry, working as a team has allowed them to pursue their own careers and interests.
When the children were young, Terry undertook many years of night school study to complete his professional qualifications, eventually establishing his own private practice in Pakenham.
Although Alwyn initially trained to teach home crafts in specialist schools (with some years spent at Emmerson School in Dandenong) her main focus was teaching the early years classes, first at Beaconhills when the Junior School was very new and later at the Junior School at St Paul’s Anglican Grammar in Warragul in its early establishment years.
Always a keen cyclist, Terry has been involved in the Rotary District Ride to Conference for the entire 20 years of its existence.
Alwyn resurrected her “childhood riding skills” at a very mature age and joined Terry as a rider for three years and subsequently handled the daytime catering for the riders for the past 11 years.
Their enjoyment of cycling allowed then to undertake three rides in Europe over a period of years.
The highlight; riding from Venice to Porec in Croatia with ten other friends from the Pakenham area in 2013.
Other highlights of their life together include three periods spent on outback stations in central southern Queensland and central far north Queensland, supporting the station families by assisting with the home schooling/ school of the air for Alwyn and Terry assisting in any outdoor activities the families needed.
Once the Covid restrictions are lifted they are looking forward to continuing their passion for travel to include visiting their wide spread family.
They have enjoyed many trips overseas particularly since retiring and travelled extensively in Australia with their caravan.
Like most, the last 18 months have been tough for Terry and Alwyn as they have had very little chance to catch up face to face with their family.
They have embraced Skype and Zoom, but it is not quite the same as spending face to face time with, particularly, the grandchildren.
There will certainly be a huge celebration when the family can get together again!
Congratulations on fifty wonderful years together Terry and Alwyn – here’s to many more!
