Don and Lee Stammer

Don and Lee Stammer were married 55 years ago, in Armidale's St Peter's Anglican Cathedral, and held their reception at Wright College, where Don resided for his first four years at UNE. In the half-century that followed, the pair travelled extensively as Don distinguished himself as an educator, investment banker and economist, most notably as director of investment strategy at Deutsche Bank, director of ING Australia, deputy chief manager of Australia's Reserve Bank and chairman of the Australia-Korea Foundation.

When the couple visited UNE in May this year - for Don to receive an Honorary Doctor of Letters for his educational contributions and career in financial services - they took a nostalgic trip to Wollomombi Falls to evoke the spirit of an occasion almost 60 years earlier.

Lee: "It snowed on our wedding day, in the middle of May 1966. Everyone asked me did I wear fur, but I said: “No, when you're a bride you can't have that. I was warm with love."

“I arrived at UNE in 1961 to study education and Don (who was studying economics) was fairly prominent then."

Don: "May I add it was a small campus at that time".

Lee: "He was very well-known around the traps, and had lots of girlfriends."

Don: "I don't think I did, but if I did it was sequential not simultaneous."

Lee: "I used to admire him from afar, never ever thinking that we would one day link up. Then, in 1963, we were at the same dance at Union Hall and he asked me to dance."

Don: "Lee had gone out with two of my very good friends, in turn, and after that dance we began going out together. We went to a memorable ball in June 1964 and, at about 2am in the morning, I suggested to Lee that we go to Wollomombi Falls in my VW. It was still dark when we got out there, on the old gravel road. Lee brought some fresh strawberries and I had a bottle of champagne; we had a lovely breakfast."

Lee: "I was a bit smitten right from the word go. I couldn't believe that he would be interested in me. Our relationship developed beautifully. He was so friendly and polite and I admired his intellectual ability and sense of humour."

Don: "Lee had a variety of interests and had grown up in the country, like I had. She was very practical and had no tickets on herself. She and I felt comfort and companionship.

"The food wasn't all that good at the old Bevery [Wright College dining hall]. Once I had a tutor's salary (while completing his Masters part-time) we would eat out a bit, mainly at the dining rooms of the motels setting up at the time. But we also enjoyed lots of walks together, around the campus and into town. And Hoyts cinema let university students in for a shilling (10 cents) on a Tuesday night, so those nights at the movies were pretty good."

Lee: "We became engaged in 1965. Don had moved to Canberra in the middle of the year and he drove up to Narrabri West, where I was teaching".

Don: "It was about 700 kilometres each way in my VW beetle, so a reasonably long drive, and Lee kindly accepted my invitation. The following year Lee moved to Canberra for six months. Then we were married in May 1966 in Armidale; and then moved to Hong Kong for a year (and travelled there and back by ship, as that type of travel was much cheaper than flying)."

Lee: “We chose Armidale for our wedding because we’d met there and had enjoyed such wonderful times at university, and we still had a lot of uni friends in the region. I had a lovely group of girlfriends. It was a very special time in my life."

Don: "We subsequently had two children, Ben and Kristin, and now have six grandchildren."

And the secret of a long and happy marriage?

Don: "Mutual understanding…"

Lee: "…and helping one another."