Retired Barellan farmers Keith and Margaret Bryce were the first residents to move into Gannon’s Griffith Retirement Estate (formerly Trowella), 21 years before the facility celebrated its completion last month.
Both aged 88, the couple have been married 65 years and have two children, six grandkids, 15 great-grandchildren and welcomed their first great-great-grandchild, Judd, into the world earlier this year.
Keith was the first bartender in the estate that provides accommodation for elderly people who aren’t ready for an aged-care home but want to live in a community set-up. That bar is now called “Keith’s Bar”.
The secret to marriage longevity?
Don’t argue. Work things out. We might have disagreements, but we never argue. We sit down and talk.
How do you remain healthy at age 88?
Keep moving. Don’t just sit down in your lounge chair. We keep active; we don’t even have enough time to read books.
How did you end up living at Griffith Retirement Estate?
We moved to Griffith 37 years ago and had been living on McNabb Crescent. They turned the sod on the estate the day we went to Queensland for a holiday. We ran into a couple who lived in a Melbourne home owned by the same people opening the facility in Griffith (the Gannon family). They told us how much they loved it.
We came back to Griffith, we met with Lesley Miller, the sales rep. There were 16 villas for sale, and we bought one near the centre and we were the very first residents to move in here. Margaret Hetherington moved in three weeks later.
Do you recommend others move here?
Yes, but they’ve got to come younger. You can’t arrive here too late. A lot of people are coming when their partners already have dementia so can’t enjoy all the activities on offer.
It’s hard too for a lot of women to get their husbands here. But when they arrive, they enjoy it. You see the men gathered around the table every day for morning tea, having a conversation. That’s good for them.
We love it here. You come to a place like this to live again.