SEVENTY years. For some, that’s a life expectancy. For Val and Lindsay Smith, it is the legacy of love they have created after seven decades of marriage and a large family, to which they are devoted.
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The couple celebrate their platinum anniversary on December 2. The family is coming from far afield to celebrate the couple’s special occasion.
In a lounge filled with photos, the couple is surrounded by images of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The smiles and happiness seem to glow around them.
The Inverell couple were once Delungra residents. Lindsay was born in town, and Val was Warialda-born but moved to Delungra as a young child.
Lindsay was old enough to enlist for World War II, but had his right arm nearly torn off at 9 years of age leaving lasting damage. He said it stemmed from an accident with a wagon, when a swarm of angry hornets were disturbed and stung the horses.
He held his arms out to show one was shorter that the other.
“It doesn’t affect me much, but when the government medical officer checks you out for the army, little things will stop you. He wouldn’t even look at me,” Lindsay said.
It was wartime, and Val was part of the Women’s Army.
“See, all the men went to war, and the women had to do the farm work,” Val said.
“We only went in for three months; picking peas and stooking hay, and packing fruit.”
Town-born Lindsay thought he ran across young Val Gooda at a dance hall one evening. It must have been chemistry. They married in 1944 in Delungra.
“We’ve been together ever since,” Lindsay said.
“Oh, they said this is not going to last. We said, ‘We’ll show ‘em,’” Val grinned.
They raised four children, and it is clear they are the centre of the couple’s lives.
“They’ve just been so good. That’s what holds us together; a wonderful family,” Lindsay said.
Their four children, Robert, Elaine, Melville and Cheryleen have given their parents seven grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. The Smiths are immensely proud of all of them.
The Smith family moved to Inverell in 1966.
“The job I was on was an absolute dead-end sort of job; you just got older there,” Lindsay said.
Their children had mostly moved away by then. Lindsay did a bit of work until he landed at Payless Groceries. Val turned her hand at The Inverell Times and was a Meals on Wheels volunteer for many years.
Over the years, their family has dispersed across Australia and overseas.
Lindsay and Val have done some travelling of their own. They caught the travel bug after a trip to Tasmania.
“And every bus that was going, we were on it,” Val said. It wasn’t just buses. They have been on Alaskan cruises and trips to Europe. Val said her memorable holidays were Canada and Scotland. Lindsay recalled a trip to Ireland.
“We pulled up one evening, the coach, to this little wayside place and they had the Irish whiskey there,” he said.
“She was strong,” Val said wryly.
The Smiths didn’t have a magic recipe to a long marriage. Val said they might have an argument, but then they forget about it.
“You’ve just got to work together, look after one another,” Lindsay said.
