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In front of tables of friends at Springvale Senior Citizens Multicultural Club, Dusica and Doug Stevic celebrated 55 years of marriage.
About 80 watched on as the happy couple cut an enormous cake at the lunch and dance on 12 March.
Mr Stevic joked that his wife was a “hero” and an “angel” for putting up with him for so long.
The Endeavour Hills couple met a school graduation dance back in their homeland, the former Yugoslavia, in 1962.
Dusica was a Year 12 graduate, and Doug was the hired DJ.
A year down the track, as was the custom, Doug literally swept Dusica off her feet.
He “pinched” Dusica from her family home and carried her to his family’s home ten doors down.
They married at the local town hall in November 1968.
With the local economy on the slide, the Stevics decided to move to Australia for a “better life”.
In Yugoslavia, they could not afford to live in a flat, let alone a house. They and their young son were forced to board in a single room.
After moving to Melbourne, they bought their first house in Noble Park, where they lived for 20 years.
They then built a house in Endeavour Hills.
Mr Stevic has since worked in foundries at a range of factories, such as an automotive and a cable manufacturing plant.
Ms Stevic has worked at the Bosch plant in Clayton, a blind home as well as butchers in Springvale.
