MICHAEL Barry first met Joyce in Sydney and they were married on June 1, 1953.

At the time Michael was working for the ANZ Bank while Joyce worked at a local grocery store in Double Bay where she shared an attic flat with a girlfriend.

After their marriage the ANZ Bank then transferred them to Brisbane where their daughter Katina was born in1957. A couple of years later they transferred to Yeppoon where Christine was born in 1961.

Two years later, the family was transferred to Townsville for two years, then to Kingaroy for about two years, to Cairns for four years and then onto Herberton on the Atherton Tablelands, where Michael took up his first managerial role in the bank.

Two years later, they moved to Jandowae on the Darling Downs and after four years they later transferred to Brisbane, where Michael worked in several branches as manager over the next 13 years before he retired.

Leading up to his retirement Joyce owned and operated a newsagency in The Valley for four years.

Joyce and Michael travelled all over the world, with their first overseas trip to Japan for Expo 70.

They also travelled to China for a holiday where they met a Yeppoon couple, Jean and Bob Kelly who convinced them to make a return visit to Yeppoon to see how much it had changed.

When they did arrive in Yeppoon Joyce and Michael liked it so much they purchased the first vacant block to be sold on Taranganba Hill and moved to Yeppoon to build their retirement home.

Both were avid fishers and only sold their boat four years ago.