By XAVIER SMERDON
A MARRIAGE that has lasted 60 years might never have happened if Cecilia did not kick a ball onto a roof.
A 12-year-old Cecilia was playing with her friends in Liverpool when the ball they were kicking ended up on the roof of a shop.
She asked nearby Johnny Caffery, who was 15-years-old at the time, if he would get the ball down, which he did.
For the next few years the two went on group dates and became closer and closer.
After proposing to Cecilia for the third time, John finally got the answer he wanted.
On 31 October 1953 the young couple married and since then they have been the best of friends.
John, a handyman who enjoys building things with his own hands, never goes out to the shed without giving his wife a kiss, and the couple still hold hands as they walk down the street.
In 1965 the couple moved to Australia with their five children and spent just under two years living in what was known as the Brooklyn Hostel.
While living there they were sharing a Nissen hut, basically a steel shed, with several other families.
John had 15 jobs in two years in a bid to support his family, before finally settling down at a chemical company, where he worked for the next 20 years.
When they first moved to Wyndham, there were still posts out the front of stores for people to tie up their horses.
But as far as having a long and happy marriage goes, neither John or Cecilia thought there was any major secret.
“We knew each other well before we got married and we’ve always had a close family. The kids always came first,” Cecilia said.
“We discussed everything first before we made a decision and it was never about ‘I want’,” she said.
John said he still felt the same way about his wife as he did when he first fell in love with her.
“I love her very much,” he said.
“I love everything about her.”
