By KATHRYN BERMINGHAM
SIXTY-TWO years ago, Trish Schoer was working in her local chemist shop, waiting to start training as a nurse.
Without a refrigerator, Trish often went to the butcher shop next door to deliver or collect Penicillin stored in the cool room. It was here she met Ken, an apprentice butcher who loved a practical joke.
Trish remembers being inside the fridge one day when Ken shut the door and turned off the light, leading to a loud scream that shocked a group of customers. What resulted was a love affair between the two that would last decades and continue to this day.
“That was where it all began,” Trish recalls.
Memories old and new were shared at a recent Schoer family reunion held at The Chapel at the old cheese factory in Berwick.
Forty years ago, this was the very same place that Trish taught Sunday school.
The interim has seen the pair on quite a journey.
Together they have four children, 13 grandchildren and 18 great- grandchildren. Ken served 27 years in the Australian Army, with many postings including three years at the Australian Embassy in Washington DC. Their son Jeff was a member of the RAAF and their son Peter was also a member of the Australian Army. Justin, one of their grandsons, was unable to attend as he is a serving member of the RAAF currently stationed in the USA with his family.
It’s been an incredible 62 years for Trish and Ken Schoer, who said the family reunion was the first of its kind in years.
“We had people come down from Sydney especially for the occasion,” Trish said.
“It’s very hard to get everyone together, so when it does happen it’s very special.”
