ThatsLife
  • WIN
  • News
  • Real Life
  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Pets
  • Your Stars
  • Puzzles
  • Podcasts
  • Video
ThatsLife
  • WIN
  • News
  • Real Life
  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Pets
  • Your Stars
  • Puzzles
  • Podcasts
  • Video
Subscribe
There's A Better, Faster Way To Predict Sepsis
Watch 0:37

There's A Better, Faster Way To Predict Sepsis

{headline}

{headline}

A cockatoo proposed to me!

A cockatoo proposed to me!

Man faked his own death to propose to his girlfriend

Man faked his own death to propose to his girlfriend

Man dies during romantic underwater proposal

Man dies during romantic underwater proposal

'My boyfriend wants to propose to me with a ring meant for his ex-girlfriend'

'My boyfriend wants to propose to me with a ring meant for his ex-girlfriend'

{headline}

{headline}

Heart-stopping moment man drops engagement ring down the DRAIN after proposing

Heart-stopping moment man drops engagement ring down the DRAIN after proposing

How much should you spend on an engagement ring?

How much should you spend on an engagement ring?

Woman proposes to boyfriend at Disneyland – but it goes VERY wrong

Woman proposes to boyfriend at Disneyland – but it goes VERY wrong

{headline}

{headline}

Man reveals shocking reason why he hasn't proposed to long-time girlfriend

Man reveals shocking reason why he hasn't proposed to long-time girlfriend

Back from the brink!

Back from the brink!

Brave Ellie - 420 days in hospital for a new heart!

Brave Ellie - 420 days in hospital for a new heart!

I woke up with no hands and feet

I woke up with no hands and feet

How chalk found me love!

How chalk found me love!

Gone for 13 minutes – then my boy came back to life!

Gone for 13 minutes – then my boy came back to life!

Pregnant at 51 – My mum had my baby

Pregnant at 51 – My mum had my baby

  1. Home
  2. Real Life

Why this woman waited 46 years for a proposal

'I really didn't think it would ever happen!' - by Emma Levett
  • 27 Jul 2018

Peg has waited patiently to become a wife.

Here, Peg Berdebese, 72, tells the story in her own words.

I remember the first day I met him. It was 1962 and George came into the hotel where I was working as a waitress.

He flashed me a smile and I nodded back, politely.

Old married men should be home with their wife and kids, I thought, carrying on with my work.

After that, he’d come into the hotel with his little Jack Russell dog most weeks and we got to know each other quite well. It turned out George was only 28, but aged 17, that seemed old to me! We had nothing more than a nice friendship though. He was married to Joyce and I was engaged.

As the years went on I got married too and George and I both had families. When George’s marriage ended I was sad for him, but not as sad as I was when my own relationship crumbled aged just 26.

I had to force myself out on New Year’s Eve that year. There didn’t feel like much to be celebrating, but then I bumped into George at the hotel. By now we’d known each other for nine years, but that night something felt different.

Both single, we understood what each other had been through.

together for years

We've been together through thick and thin

Supplied

With the dawn of a new year I had a big smile on my face and within a few months George and I were an item!

As we fell in love and moved in to a flat together, people naturally thought we’d get married. ‘We don’t need to do that,’ I shrugged.

I’d already had a big white wedding and look how that turned out. ‘We’re happy as we are,’ George smiled. And we really were.

With six children between us, we didn’t have any together, preferring to have dogs instead!

We spent our time travelling around the country at stock car meets and George even built one. It was a beautiful life and our love just blossomed every year. We stood side by side through tragedy too.

All three of George’s children have passed away, Anita Marie, 36, from a brain aneurysm, Angela, 38, to breast cancer, then Julian, 41, was knocked off his motorbike. How will he cope? I thought when the police knocked on our door.

George was very quiet as he bottled up the sadness, but together we carried on. It was the same when my daughter Michelle lost her battle with breast cancer in August 2011.George held me as I cried and was my rock just as I had been his.

It felt like we were due some good news after all the pain, but in 2017 George was diagnosed with lung cancer.

Now 83, he took it in his usual quiet way but when we got home he surprised me. ‘We should get married,’ George said. After more than four decades he was proposing!

Together 46 years, I really didn’t think it would ever happen! ‘We should,’ I laughed.

long marriage

George looked so handsome in his pink tie

Supplied

And off I went that week to buy myself an engagement and wedding ring.

As we made a few wedding plans I went to sort out the legal paperwork.

‘You’re already registered as married,’ a clerk told me as he went through the files. ‘What?’ I gasped.

My ex-husband had told me he’d sorted out a divorce years ago. It wasn’t a problem though. Because he’d passed away, I just had to declare myself widowed. It was a bit strange to think I was getting married just weeks after becoming a widow!

Initially we were going to have a very small wedding, but then my friend Christine got involved.  ‘Let’s do it properly,’ she smiled, arranging  a gazebo and flowers in our back garden.

Last May, 20 friends and family came to watch us say our vows. I wore a lovely lace top and pink skirt and had a flower in my hair.

‘Look at you,’ I said to George, admiring his dashing tie.

His nurse had lent him a lovely pink one and he looked so smart.

Our dog Benji was best man in a bow tie and most of our grandchildren came dressed to the nines.

doggie

Our dog Benji was best man!

Supplied
Mum and son

My son Brian gave me away

Supplied

Afterwards, George disappeared inside and came back out dressed in his normal clothes.

‘We haven’t even cut the cake yet,’ I laughed.

It was so George and unlike most brides I’d had 46 years to get used to that!

Thankfully, George is doing well. I care for him at home and we haven’t been given any idea of when our time together will end.

I know I’ve been so lucky to spend my life with the man of my dreams and our wedding really was the icing on the cake.

While it might have been four decades in the making, our special day was definitely worth the wait.

Read more in this week's issue of that's life!, on sale now.

Emma Levett

Subscribe to That's Life Weekly for your chance to win a share in $25,000-

Subscribe Now
Subscribe to That's Life Weekly for your chance to win a share in $25,000

Subscribe to That's Life Weekly for your chance to win a share in $25,000-

Subscribe Now
Subscribe to That's Life Weekly for your chance to win a share in $25,000

Recommended to you

There's A Better, Faster Way To Predict Sepsis
Watch 0:37

There's A Better, Faster Way To Predict Sepsis

{headline}

{headline}

A cockatoo proposed to me!

A cockatoo proposed to me!

Man faked his own death to propose to his girlfriend

Man faked his own death to propose to his girlfriend

Man dies during romantic underwater proposal

Man dies during romantic underwater proposal

'My boyfriend wants to propose to me with a ring meant for his ex-girlfriend'

'My boyfriend wants to propose to me with a ring meant for his ex-girlfriend'

{headline}

{headline}

Heart-stopping moment man drops engagement ring down the DRAIN after proposing

Heart-stopping moment man drops engagement ring down the DRAIN after proposing

How much should you spend on an engagement ring?

How much should you spend on an engagement ring?

Woman proposes to boyfriend at Disneyland – but it goes VERY wrong

Woman proposes to boyfriend at Disneyland – but it goes VERY wrong

{headline}

{headline}

Man reveals shocking reason why he hasn't proposed to long-time girlfriend

Man reveals shocking reason why he hasn't proposed to long-time girlfriend

Back from the brink!

Back from the brink!

Brave Ellie - 420 days in hospital for a new heart!

Brave Ellie - 420 days in hospital for a new heart!

I woke up with no hands and feet

I woke up with no hands and feet

How chalk found me love!

How chalk found me love!

Gone for 13 minutes – then my boy came back to life!

Gone for 13 minutes – then my boy came back to life!

Pregnant at 51 – My mum had my baby

Pregnant at 51 – My mum had my baby

ThatsLife
  • Gold Club
  • Online Entry FAQ
  • About Us
  • Subscribe Today
  • Contact Us
  • Terms
  • Competitions
  • Privacy Policy
ThatsLife Magazine Subscribe
  • Gold Club
  • Online Entry FAQ
  • About Us
  • Subscribe Today
  • Contact Us
  • Terms
  • Competitions
  • Privacy Policy

Brands

  • New Idea
  • Who
  • Girlfriend
  • Practical Parenting

Our Network

  • Better Homes and Gardens
  • BHG Shop
  • marie claire
  • Beauty Crew
  • New Idea food
  • Women's Weekly Food
  • Bounty Parents
  • Home Beautiful
  • All Recipes
  • 7plus
  • 7News
  • Health Engine
  • Starts at 60
  • The West Australian
  • Perth Now
  • Airtasker
  • Society One
© 2021 Are Media PTY LTD
Get more from

Magazine Subscription Offer

Subscribe to That's Life Weekly for your chance to win a share in $25,000-

Shop This Offer
Subscribe to That's Life Weekly for your chance to win a share in $25,000