FROM love at first sight during a holiday camp at England’s Butlin’s in 1962 to a letter from King Charles celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary in 2023.
They may have just celebrated 60 years of wedded bliss, but for Glass House Mountains couple, Fred and Joyce Carr, it seems like just they other day they laid eyes on each other for the first time.
The couple were in their early 20s at a holiday camp in Butlin’s – a seaside resort in the United Kingdom – where Fred described their first meeting at love at first sight.
“My wife was there for two weeks, and I was there for a week, but the second week we met together, she was on one table and I was on another and we just eyed each other up,” Fred said.
“We went around, and we went to the beach together, I did a few tricks on her, and we got along very good.”
They were together for 18 months until they decided to wed and move to Australia in the 1965 and, have now lived in the Glass House Mountains for 20 years.
When it comes to the secret to a long, loving, and healthy marriage, Fred and Joyce had a quite straight forward answer.
“Love, patience, accept each other’s differences, do things together not just your own thing, we believe the lord’s helped us too throughout our marriage,” they said.
The couple had two sons and now have five grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
“We have two sons, Ian and his wife Christine, Darren and his wife Kath, and five grandchildren, Reece, Ashlea, Trent, Melissa and Tayla and two great grandchildren, Ace and Lacey,” Fred said.
For a wedding anniversary surprise, their good friends who were married the same day, organised a card from the King of England, King Charles III, to commemorate the milestone.
The couple also received cards from other significant people celebrating them on their 60th wedding anniversary.
“We also got a card from the Governor General, the Prime Minister, the Governor and Premier of Queensland, and local MPs Andrew Powell and Andrew Wallace,” he said. “When we got the letter from the King, we thought ‘wow’. We didn’t know how it happened or how it came all the way from England.”
They also had a special trip organised by their son Ian and partner Christine, to go to Canberra Jamala Zoo where they stayed in the Cheetah room. “They would come and lie by the windows, and you are only a glass window away from the Cheetahs … it was fabulous,” Fred said.
Main image: Fred and Joyce Carr and the many letters congratulating the pair on 60 years of marriage.