Short notice for long marriage

Press, 21 October 1989, Page 4

Short notice for long marriage

By

CLARE BARRY

Mr Eoin Buckley and Mrs Joan Buckley had three days notice of their wedding 50 years ago. They were married by special licence at St Paul’s Church in Papanui after Mr Buckley was advised of a transfer to Auckland in his Post Office job. “There was no dress, no cake, and the whole thing took about a quarter of an hour,” said Mrs Buckley. Mr Buckley was due to take up the job on the Tuesday after the wedding, but this Was later cancelled.

The Buckleys moved to Auckland about five months later when Mr Buckley joined the Navy. He was in and out of port for the next six years.

Mrs Buckley said she shuddered to think how she had coped in those years. She had two children during the war while living in a bed-sit.

She said there was a wonderful network of Navy wives who helped each other.

The comradeship among the women was the best thing that came out of the war, and they were friendships that lasted, she said. Mrs Buckley recalled one time when her husband was due home on leave and she dressed up their daughter, aged seven months, who he had last seen when she was three days old. He then hardly noticed her when he came in.

“I got over the disappointment,” said Mrs Buckley.

She knew of her husband’s arrivval after receiving a message from

the grocer, one of the few people with a telephone, to tell her to expect “a parcel” in three days time.

Navy ship movements were considered Defence secrets, and sailors’ families found out “through the grapevine” when they were due in port.

The Buckleys moved back to Christchurch after the war, where they had a third child. Mr Buckley resumed his work with the Post Office and also worked at “The Press” at night attending teleprinter machines. Mrs Buckley worked at Princess Margaret Hospital for 15 years as the evening supervisor in the nurses’ hostel.

Mr and Mrs Buckley have eight grandchildren.