Finding each other after a life in uniform

Anne Stephen and Graham Simon get each other.

With nearly 60 years of service between them, the pair have an understanding of one another they have not found elsewhere.

Though the army veterans did not serve together directly, they met while both posted in Queensland.

Simon said the pair were more than 20 years into their careers before they crossed paths.

Serendipitous timing led them to one another shortly after they each became single.

“We ran into each other in the military up in Townsville and haven’t looked back,” Simon said.

Both Simon and Stephen had been in long-term partnerships with civilians before they met.

Living and loving a person who understands the weight of a career in the army is new to them both.

It has made all the hard parts feel easier, Stephen said.

Stephen looks back fondly on her first husband but said there is comfort in knowing Simon understands her experiences in service.

 

“I was married to a civilian man, and he was fantastic as a husband, but me being in defence, he didn’t understand,” Stephen said.

“Then there was Graham.

“We both want to be in control, because we’re both used to that, and we fight a heap about who should be doing this and that, but we understand each other.

“We’re both indoctrinated in the same environment, in the same rules, in the same headspace.

“We get it.”

More than a decade into their marriage, the pair, who have settled in Bellbrae, are not sick of one another.

Together, they have become respected members of the Anglesea RSL and have been invited to share their individual experiences with others this Anzac Day.

They hope to honour those who came before them as well as those who they served alongside.