Community
9 April, 2025
Celebrating 50 years together
COBDEN business owners Vince and Annette Thorne have celebrated 50 years of marriage, after half a century of never going to bed angry.
The couple celebrated their gold anniversary on March 25 in Yarrawonga with their three daughters and seven grandchildren.
The Thorne family first met when both were students studying agricultural sciences at Latrobe University, but it was a visit to a family friend in Grassmere which would bring them to the south west.
“Vince’s family had a friend who lives in Grassmere so we had come down to visit him,” Mrs Thorne said.
“We both had a dream of having our own farm, and a little property of 50 acres hit the market at Naringal.
“We were still in Melbourne and still at university at the time, but our friend said he would look after it for us until we could move down there.”
The couple eventually shifted across to the Panmure/Laang area until tragedy struck.
“Ash Wednesday came along in 1983,” Mr Thorne said.
“We lost our house.”
But the family did what was asked of most farming families they picked up the pieces, and kept going.
“We bought a little dairy farm after going to the bank manager and he said if we could find a farm which would milk 100 cows and do 20,000 kilograms of butter fat, he would fund us – and he did,” Mr Thorne said.
“That grew from 140 acres after we bought more land around it – ending up with a bit under 400 acres.
“We sold it after all of our kids went to university because none of them wanted to go in to farming, and that’s when we started at Cobden Tools and Trailers.
“That was 20 years ago – we needed somewhere to put cars, so we started this business so I could play with cars, sell trailers, and automotive tools.”
Mr Thorne said the couple had once talked about what keeps couples together, and settled on an age-old belief they feel rings true.
“Not going to bed angry at one another,” he said.
“We’ve never done that – we’ve thought about what keeps couples together, and we’ve never gone to sleep annoyed or cross with one another.
“We’ve always sorted it out before we go to sleep.”
The couple also made time for each other over the years, including taking annual vacations and spending time on hobbies for just themselves.
“When we were younger, we always had two holidays – one with the kids and one without – which I think was important,” Mr Thorne said.
“We also have hobbies, one with and without the kids.
“We had a ski boat and would go skiing with them, but would also go away for weekends or weeks for car trials and we wouldn’t take the kids.
“When I was teaching one of the principals said to us if you want to know where your kids are, buy yourself a boat, and all their friends will come to you to go water skiing.
“He was right, it worked that way, so we got to know who our kids were friends with.”
Mrs Thorne said their Christian faith had also provided them a source of comfort and support.
“I think that helps,” she said
The couple continues to go strong to this day, with Mr Thorne saying he believed marriages were once longer lasting.
“We’ve had 260 years of first marriages in my family,” he said.
“Everyone stayed together in those days.
“I have a brother and three sisters, and they’re all on their first marriages.
“They’ve all been married more than 40 years now.”
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