HE had been waiting for a bus when Barbara rolled off a fallen horse near him.
The horse had slipped while galloping with Barbara on top along the road.
It is something Barbara, 79, flatly denies, bringing greater joy to her husband, Brian Garvey, of almost 60 years.
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“I accepted from early on that she was a crazy person,” Brian said. “She must have been.”
The couple will celebrate their diamond anniversary on July 26.
Barbara, 79, remembers Brian, 81, as not much of a dancer in his younger years, but as handsome.
“There was something about him,” she said.
The two met in Rockhampton through Brian’s sister before going out to the Darra dances together.
The were married in 1958 at a tiny Inala church after a short engagement, setting up home in Darra for the next 40 years.
Barbara, a ten-pound Pom, said their wedding was small.
Her relatives were back in Britain and Brian’s family were Aussie battlers.
It was a humble beginning, but almost 60 years later the couple have nine grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.
The Garveys moved to Macleay Island more than two decades ago after Brian retired from his job as a foreman.
He had helped to service electrical transformers.
Barbara had also worked at the Oxley police academy in its canteen.
“It has been a long journey, with ups and downs – it has been good,” Barbara said.
