V-Day secrets at St Paul’s
Queensland’s 101-year-old Hugh and 95-year-old Joyce Mitchell know the “secret ingredients” to a happy marriage. The couple, who celebrate their 67th wedding anniversary this Valentine’s Day, says “good communication, team work and mutual care” has made them last the test of time.
Queensland’s 101-year-old Hugh and 95-year-old Joyce Mitchell know the “secret ingredients” to a happy marriage.
The couple, who celebrate their 67th wedding anniversary this Valentine’s Day, says “good communication, team work and mutual care” has made them last the test of time.
“We understand each other and always talk matters over and work as a team,” Mr Mitchell says.
Residing at St Paul’s Lutheran Aged Care Village, Mr Mitchell remains at the facility’s high-care suite while Mrs Mitchell is in low-care.
Despite brief moments of time apart, the love birds will attend a Valentine’s Day Ball, where about 60 residents from other local aged care services will dance the night away.
The couple met in England when Mr Mitchell served in the 464th squadron, where he flew in a Mosquito in bombing raids over Germany in World War II. Mrs Mitchell worked as a women’s Auxiliary Force clerk at the airbase.
After surviving the depression and leaving England, the war bride needed to adapt to isolated conditions in Normanton, a small cattle town in Northwest Queensland’s Gulf Country where she baked her own bread and waded across the flooded Norman River to reach the hospital to give birth to her first child.
St Paul’s Lutheran Aged Care executive director of nursing, Maggie Hepple, says the facility has many couples on site, like Mr and Mrs Mitchell, who still remain together after many years, and believes it is “vital” to cater for these couples “in line with their changing health needs”.
So, with a love stronger than ever, the couple has some wise words of advice for young and old lovers alike.
“You can’t have your own way all the time. You should try to do the right thing between you as a couple and be supportive,” they say.
