Valentines Day’s sweetest couples from the Hinterland
By Sonia Isaacs and Kirra Livingstone
Spencer and Karen Shaw
How and when did you meet?
Highschool sweet hearts, almost … fate threw a wild card in the mix however, we lost touch for a few years, but then met again at a high school reunion in our early 20’s and we’ve been together now for 34 years this February.
What do you appreciate most about each other?
We both have strong love and passion for family, and are equally naïve, after all this time, to believe that we can help create a better world and community! But seriously, we both enjoy working together in our business to heal country and creating positive opportunities for family and our community, right here and now, and for future generations. A strong work ethic is definitely in the mix (perhaps a bit too strong at times) and we each make time for creativity and self-expression.
What are your tips for a successful relationship?
Honesty and a deep appreciation of each other as individuals, and our wider relationships that we share.
Caring for others, not just each other or family, but adopted family, good friends, and our connected communities is equally important. We are more than individuals and couples, but very much the communities we all help build and contribute too.
Helen and Bruce Page
How and when did you meet?
We met at a local meeting of the Young Country Party (YCP). Back in those days young people would mainly meet each other through local community activities or groups – and there was so much happening! Every Saturday night there were dances throughout the local halls in the region, you could go to the movies at the local halls or there were a number of youth groups you could join such as Junior (Rural) farmers, and a lot of people met this way.
We met around 1962 at a YCP meeting most likely at the Beerwah Hall or CWA hall.
We ended up joining the same youth debating team and travelled around to competitions where we got to know each other. We married in 1966.
What do you appreciate most about each other?
When it comes down to it, we’ve spent a lot of time together and done a lot together as a couple from family life to our involvement with community.
We’ve always supported each other and we work together as a team, and our family life we’ve created has brought us a lot of joy and we appreciate the hard work, kindness and dedication of each other to achieve that life.
What are your tips for a successful relationship?
A perfect marriage is just two imperfect people who refuse to give up on each other!
Ryan and Chelsea Butler
How did you meet?
Ryan: I locked eyes with her while I was working at Woolworths as a check out chick, and she was in her job interview clothes interviewing for a job.
Once she was hired, we talked a lot but neither of us were making a move, and Chelsea knew a few weeks before I asked her out that I liked her.
One day on the weekend when she was working and I had a day off, I went in and bought a few random things so I could go through her check out. I asked her if she wanted to hang out and handed my phone to her like the moody teenager I was. Fast forward to 2014 we got married, we have a son who is nearly three, and another baby due on February 15.
When did you meet?
End of 2009
What do you love most about each other?
Ryan: Loving Chelsea is like breathing, it has become so easy that I don’t think about the specific things I love about her. I love that she’s a weirdo just like me, and that she has this way of caring for her family and her close circle so deeply, which I love.
Chelsea: We can be so comfortable with each other and he’s so supportive. I think we just make a great team.
What are your tips for a successful relationship?
Don’t go to bed angry, it is a common one but it is because it’s true!
John and Lottie Nisbett
How and when did you meet?
We first met when Lottie’s brother invited John to attend Lottie’s 15th birthday on December 27, 1960. We knew fairly quickly we wanted to be together and we got engaged in May the following year and married on January 13, 1962 at St Paul’s Presbyterian Church in Brisbane, two weeks after Lottie’s 17th birthday.
John has Scottish heritage, and when we first met he was in the Queensland Police Force and also a member of the Police Pipe Band, so he wore his kilt at our wedding.
What do you appreciate most about each other
We are always each other’s first concern, and after all this time we are still best friends so it’s easy.
Although we have beautiful daughters we love dearly, it’s always been us as a couple first.
At the end of the day we love each other deeply and share all our lives, laughter and losses together.
We always know that to each other we are absolutely the most important person in each of our individual worlds.
What are your tips for a successful relationship?
Never say I love you if you don’t mean it, and never take your problems to bed.
Dana Coolwell and Bec Ramm
How did you meet?
We met at the Hinterland Boxing Club, Bec was doing one of the boxing classes and I would be hanging at the gym.
We started to talk after classes and then we would start to hang out outside of the gym.
There was no official asking out or first date, we were just together.
When did you meet?
End of 2019
What do you love most about each other?
Dana: It’s just so easy and how easy we get along, she’s basically my best friend as well. I can be myself around her which I find is the best thing.
Bec: He’s probably the most calmest, most chill person. Everything is easy with him.
What are your tips for a successful relationship?
Communication and being open with each other.
No relationship is perfect, everyone is going to have their issues, you just need to talk things through.
Bailey Sims and Aiesha Anderson
How did you meet?
We met on Ocean Street, Aiesha lost her friend in the club, her friend’s phone was dead, and so we searched Maroochydore for three hours trying to find her, and we just never stopped talking since then.
When did you meet?
End of 2019
What do you love most about eachother?
Bailey: Aiesha is probably the most understanding person on the planet, she gets how my head works and knows how to work with it.
And she is beautiful in every shape and form.
Aiesha: He is very driven, and he’s intelligent too.
What are your tips for a successful relationship?
The 80/20 rule, you may not always be able to put the same amount of effort in as your partner, but if you find a healthy balance you can make it work.
