IN a world where true love is sometimes a rarity, Nishia and Alby Oxley are defying the odds as they approach celebrations for their 70th wedding anniversary.
The couple recently moved into Millward Aged Care Facility in Doncaster East and now share separate rooms. On Alby’s bedside table sits a single photograph; a shrine to his wife Nishia.
The pair met 80 years ago, during the Great Depression, and a great friendship and connection blossomed. “We met when we were 10 years old,” Nishia recalls fondly. “He went his way and I went my way for many years, but often he would tell me ‘Nishia I love you’, and I’d turn around and say, ‘Alby, I know you do’. We were always good pals.”
As a friend of her brother, Alby was a regular visitor at Nishia’s house as they grew up. “He would always give me a kiss on the cheek, but we were never going together,” Nishia says.
It was not until many years later when Alby, then 25, asked Nishia, 24, to marry him.
“One day he had to go to Tasmania for three weeks,” she explains. “He promised he would write to me and said that he wanted to marry me.”
The weeks passed and upon his return, Alby only wanted to hear one word.
“The first thing he said was, ‘Well, have you made up your mind?’ and I said ‘Yes’.”
The childhood sweethearts were married a year later on October 25, 1941, at Holy Trinity Church in Port Melbourne.
Nishia recalls her wedding day as being beautiful. “My dress had 400 yards of lace and he said he loved me, it was everything.”
The husband and wife then moved to East Kew to what would be their family home for 69 years. They had three sons and now have five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. They both agree their children are their greatest pride.
“We watched them grow up and they were always good kids,” Nishia says. “I’d always hear about the cheeky things they had done after they did them.”
When the couple are asked what they love most about each other, Alby doesn’t hesitate to declare his inerring love for his lifelong partner.
“She is a damn good wife,” he says, simply.
Nishia’s response makes it clear that in their 70 years of marriage, the couple have only had eyes for each other – and their three children.
“Alby was always a good husband, he always said ‘thank you my love’ and that is all I ever needed and he is a good father. He is the best father.”
The family often enjoyed camping trips at Lakes Entrance, as well as simple pleasures such as Sunday roasts.
Indeed, the secret to this couple’s success is the enjoyment of the simple things in their lives.
“We always went dancing together,” Nishia says.
“We didn’t need anything else; we were just content with what we had. Alby would knock off from work and come straight home because he knew I would always have dinner ready for him. We didn’t want any more or any less; we just needed each other.”
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