How Ian met Susie

An excerpt from Ian’s memoir “How I met your mother.”

Vic was very active in the St Andrews Brighton Anglican Church Young Peoples fellowship, and occasionally organised dances in the Brighton area. Sometimes he had a few female members of the group who had not attracted young gentlemen to escort them to these social events, so he recruited me to the cause. I wasn’t that enthusiastic about dancing, and being a shy and retiring type, generally did not make any progress with these girls, even though I was happy enough associating with females and enjoyed helping Vic out.

Susie and Margaret were usually at these events, and I can remember sitting at a table with Margaret at one event and thinking that she was very pretty.

Being very good looking, Susie was, however, usually surrounded by a circle of male admirers, and paid me no attention whatsoever, although I can recall admiring her from afar.

Susie was crowned “Miss St Andrews” at one event in recognition of her outstanding beauty and lively personality.

Anyway this went on as we ploughed through third and fourth year Mechanical Engineering and eventually completed the four year course.

At the end of fourth year, both Vic and I were employed by the University for a few weeks before Christmas 1965 to help clean up at the year end. One Friday night after work on a hot December day, Vic said “Let’s go to Dendy Street beach and have a swim”.

So we did that, and it was very pleasant. We came across Susie, who was a friend of Vic’s, and who was sun baking and occasionally swimming and talked to her for a while. I had the impression that she sized me up and down, but showed no other interest whatsoever.

Vic started work at the Department of Supply and continued at Monash on PhD studies. We kept in touch, and I occasionally went to card evenings he organised at his place. I started work at CRA at 95 Collins St.

In November 1966, after about eleven months at CRA working on designing water supplies and specifications for mining and railway equipment at the Hamersley Iron mining and port developments at Mt Tom Price and Dampier, they decided to send me to Dampier in January 1967 to supervise Mechanical infrastructure installations including the equipment I had specified or designed.

Some time in November 1966, Vic had organised a party on a Saturday night at a place which I seem to remember was located in Sandringham. (Susie disputes this and says that it was at Vic’s mother’s place in New Street Brighton). Anyway, having nothing better to do, I drove to the place. As it happened, Susie was there, without her current boyfriend who was studying for his law degree end of year exams.

So she looked around, decided that I was the best of a bad lot, and would possibly be a bit of a challenge. She contemplated how to engage my attention, and decided to throw bottle tops at me. This certainly engaged my attention.

And the rest is history.