STAWELL retirees Bill and Dot McIntosh will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary with a small group of family and friends on Saturday.
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They plan to put on some of their beloved rock and roll tunes and dance the night away.
“The songs won’t be too fast,” Dot said.
“We’re slowing down a bit these days.”
The couple still get plenty of speed out of their other shared hobby - hot rods and custom cars.
“We can just toss a coin every day to see which car we take out for a spin,” Dot said.
Bill and Dot have spent more time out on the road than many couples.
“We’ve been retired for 10 years but before that we went around to field days selling leather Akubra-style hats, from Queensland right through to Tasmania,” Dot said. “We had an bus with the seats taken out and fitted to live in.
“We didn’t spend much time at home.”
A lot of relationships would be tested by long hours together in a confined space, but Dot said there was never a crossed word.
“They were the best days of our lives,” Dot said.
Bill, a shy type, didn’t have much to say about the anniversary as he said his wife already knew everything.
Before hitting the road to sell hats for a living, Bill drove a bus and Dot worked as a car detailer at a Holden dealership.
They first met a dance in Bordertown, South Australia back in 1964 or 1965.
Bill, a Stawell native, was in town to work on an electrical job.
“We were together for a few years and then we got married in Bordertown,” Dot said.
Bill is 71 now and Dot will turn 70 in December. They have one son and two grandchildren.
The family will be back together on Saturday to help celebrate the golden wedding anniversary.
Dot said she and Bill had not planned a big event for the milestone, just a few drinks.
“We can go where we like, and we try to make the most of every day,” Dot said.
“No secret to 50 years, we’re just great mates.”