![Wagga's Fay and Gordon Mowbray will celebrate 70 years of marriage next week. Picture by les Smith Wagga's Fay and Gordon Mowbray will celebrate 70 years of marriage next week. Picture by les Smith](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/JEQDf2CFmqVGDcvEsZPwEY/d6394428-b2ab-4062-a728-b509a75ae932.jpg/r0_0_4761_3572_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
From dancing the decades away to travelling the world side by side, Gordon and Fay Mowbray have spent the last 70 years making irreplaceable memories together.
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The Wagga husband and wife will mark their platinum wedding anniversary on Wednesday, celebrating the milestone with loved ones.
It is a love that is hard to find, unimaginably beautiful, wholeheartedly consuming and impossible to forget.
Gordon, a former teacher who was the first principal at Billabong High School and former deputy principal at Wagga High School, was 19 when he met the love of his life, Fay.
Fay was 16 at the time, and at the ages of 19 and 22 - after years of riding around their hometown, Newcastle, and dancing at their local city hall on the weekends - the pair tied the knot.
They then welcomed their two sons, Peter and Paul Mowbray.
Gordon and Fay met by chance and their love was a slow burn - some might say it was fate.
![Wagga's Fay and Gordon Mowbray met in their hometown Newcastle during a routine night out dancing. Picture by Les Smith Wagga's Fay and Gordon Mowbray met in their hometown Newcastle during a routine night out dancing. Picture by Les Smith](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/JEQDf2CFmqVGDcvEsZPwEY/59e7646d-2a00-415a-80bc-9b885fecfd20.jpg/r0_0_4506_3700_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"We met at a dance," Fay said.
"At that time there were a lot of dances every Thursday night and we went to the town hall and danced on Saturday nights.
"[Gordon] started asking me to dance with him more often and soon he was asking me to dance all of the time."
On one side of the river dividing Newcastle Fay lived with her parents and two sisters and on the other side, Gordon lived with his mother while his father and two brothers were at war.
We just get on alright, we're best friends.
- Fay Mowbray
"To court me he had to ride a pushbike and when we went out sometimes, to take me home I would have to sit on the bar and I had a pretty sore butt when I got off," Fay said.
"Gee, it was hard work. He was peddling, but it was hard work for me to sit there."
After their sons grew up Gordon and Fay began travelling when the opportunity arose, whether it be around the country, over the ditch or on northern hemisphere adventures.
"We've been to most of Europe and we've been to America, we've been to New Zealand, Tasmania and most of Australia," Fay said.
"We were lucky to be able to travel a lot."
![Fay and Gordon Mowbray at Halifax Holiday Park at Nelson Bay as they celebrate Gordon's 80th birthday in 2011. Picture by Simone de Peak Fay and Gordon Mowbray at Halifax Holiday Park at Nelson Bay as they celebrate Gordon's 80th birthday in 2011. Picture by Simone de Peak](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/GGnMDP6H6ep7kM2Dx35kRi/6af94a16-bd39-4819-9105-f1de6a45a100.jpg/r0_299_4812_3004_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Gordon said he believes a big reason for their successful marriage is growing up in similar settings.
"That made us have the same sort of values," he said.
"We both went to church a lot, we both went dancing a lot, we have so much in common."
When reflecting on 70 years of marriage Fay said it just becomes a new normal having your best friend in a spouse by your side throughout life.
![Gordon and Fay Mowbray on a bench made in their honour at Nelson Bay in 2014, marking 50 years of continuous holidays at Halifax Park. Picture by Jonathan Carroll Gordon and Fay Mowbray on a bench made in their honour at Nelson Bay in 2014, marking 50 years of continuous holidays at Halifax Park. Picture by Jonathan Carroll](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/GGnMDP6H6ep7kM2Dx35kRi/818e41bc-3e22-4fb8-aaf3-fafcdc2fe68d.jpg/r9_0_4005_2248_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"We just get on alright, we're best friends," Fay said.
"He drives me around everywhere, and Gordon is a great nurse."
Fay isn't well and is unable to drive herself around anymore, relying on Gordon to take her to her weekly card nights and do their grocery shopping.
Just like everything else over the last 70 years, Gordon and Fay will celebrate their wedding anniversary hand-in-hand.
![Fay and Gordon Mowbray at Halifax Holiday Park at Nelson Bay as they celebrate Gordon's 80th birthday in 2011. Picture by Simone de Peak Fay and Gordon Mowbray at Halifax Holiday Park at Nelson Bay as they celebrate Gordon's 80th birthday in 2011. Picture by Simone de Peak](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/GGnMDP6H6ep7kM2Dx35kRi/235d3dbe-a5f3-419a-8e17-b4ae26c4032f.jpg/r0_500_4896_3264_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)