By Hollie Harris
IF anyone has the recipe for a long and successful marriage, it’s Fred and Lily Wheal.
Aged 92 and 94, this Noosaville couple who celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on 7 September, might just have the answer to lasting love.
“I can sum it up in one word really, and I think it covers most things – it’s tolerance,” Lily said.
They met at a dance in post-war London in 1946 when Fred asked Lily to accompany him in a waltz.
The romance quickly became an engagement and the pair were married a few months later.
After raising two children, who later moved to Australia, Fred and Lily decided to join their family here to enjoy their twilight years, and have lived here for the last 10 years.
The couple received the royal treatment last week opening cards and letters of congratulations from Queen Elizabeth, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, the Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove, and a visit from Noosa MP Glen Elmes with an armful of flowers.
After a very special lunch date at Noosa Springs, the couple shared her theory on staying together for 70 years.
“You have to give and take very early on in the scene, and you have to give more than you take,” Lily said.
