A 70 year old love

Ninety year old Mr Gauci, who recently celebrated his 70th wedding anniversary with his wife, Jane, 88, at a Victorian aged care facility, believes all it takes is understanding and respect for each other – the very basic foundation of any relationship.

“Jane and I have a good marriage. We have our ups and downs and arguments in between, like any other couple. Accepting the differences between us and working with that, instead of going against that, helps,” Mr Gauci says.

He doesn’t remember when he first fell in love with his wife, but remembers noticing her in the front row of their church in Malta as children. As both families were friends, they became close.

When Mrs Gauci's family moved away to another city, they eventually lost touch until they met again on a bus they were travelling on a few years later. As fate would have it, they rekindled their friendship and it soon turned into something deeper.

The couple, then aged 18 and 20, tied the knot on 22 October 1944 at St Julian’s church in Malta. Five children later, Mr Gauci moved to Melbourne in search of a better future for his family, who joined him two and a half years later.

The family has since expanded and the Gauci clan now has nine grandchildren and eight great grandchildren, with two more on the way.

The family recently came together – all 34 of them across four generations – to celebrate the milestone wedding anniversary at Victoria's Southern Cross Care Keon Park aged care home, where Mr and Mrs Gauci now reside.

Established in 1969, Southern Cross Care (Vic) is a not for profit community based organisation that provides in home and residential services to more than 5,300 older people in metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria.