“Esther wanted to show me something.

“She took hold of my arm and we walked through the house to her granny flat and there on her wall was a portrait of Ray in his Navy uniform and my portrait was underneath his.

“Esther told me she had looked at the picture everyday wishing to find me.”

As Esther introduced Anne to all the family she said: “You remember my boy Ray – this was his fiancee. Anne has come back to us.”

Esther had also kept and treasured one of their wedding invitations.

Ray’s brothers, who were children when they knew Anne, were moved to tears to see her again.

They knew all about her and what she meant to their mother.

“Esther was over the moon to see me and to spend time together, but she was able to let me go again and we promised to keep in touch.

“I was the daughter Esther never had and always wanted.”

* * * *

“It was lovely while it lasted,” Anne Stace recalls of her relationship to her first love, Ray Warwick.

“Ray was a lot of fun, well mannered and he treated me well. There was a great deal of respect and admiration for one another – we breathed the same air.

“He was pretty close to perfect and most of all he cared for me.”

The young lovers met in 1959 when 17-year-old Anne was working on the fifth floor of the Elizabeth Street, Sydney David Jones store, where the well-to-do shopped to buy children’s shoes and have the hair coiffed at an exclusive salon on the sixth floor.

A friend invited Anne to a dance at a naval base attached to HMAS Nirimba, so they put on their “glad rags” and headed on a train and a bus to Quakers Hill.

Anne was “boy shy” at the time and recalled staying in her seat at the back of the bus until her friend coaxed her inside a hall filled with men dressed in smart black suits with shining gold buttons.

“I had a dance with one blonde fellow, then at the end of the night two blonde men headed towards me,” she said.

“Ray got to me first and took my hand to ask for a dance. We clicked straight away.

“He gave me a kiss goodnight and we exchanged addresses so he could visit me.

“While he was on leave, he came to my home to meet my mother and aunt.

“I can picture him in my mind because it has never left me – the day he arrived in his car to meet me at Marrickville train station.

“There he was waiting for me on a breezy day, with his jacket undone, his tie flapping in the breeze and his hands in his pockets.

“After that day the letters and phone calls started and I would rush home from work to get the mail.

“A few weekends passed and he took me to meet his mother, father and brothers at Wilton.”

Anne did some shopping for them and took groceries to the family, who welcomed her into their lives in the bush.

“We had great fun there and we spent as much time together as we could. The romance grew and our relationship was strong.

“Eventually, I took my mother and aunt to meet Ray’s family. Twelve months later we decided to become engaged and we went to Kings Cross to a diamond wholesaler and bought a ring.

“I was 18 years old, engaged, having lots of great times and there I was at Ray’s passing out parade.

“It was really wonderful.”

Anne remembers having their picture taken together while walking down Pitt Street, Sydney in 1960.

Meanwhile, the wedding dress had been organised and was on loan from another family.

The dress was made in Italy, covered with lace, sequins and beads and Anne had tried it on for size.

“An aunt of mine arranged for the gown to be sent to me and it was beautiful, but I never wore it.”

Ray had been transferred to Melbourne and travelled back and forth in his new car, an Anglia, with Anne waiting excitedly for him every weekend.

“Ray had borrowed a mate’s car and it was full of passengers one weekend on the way back to Sydney. The next morning I waited for him at 5.30, but there was no sign of him.

“The phone rang and my aunt answered. She yelled out. I went to my bedroom and threw myself on the floor. It was Ray’s father on the phone and I could hear the conversation.

“My aunt called out Ray’s been killed and I went blank. I thought, ‘he’s gone, my world is gone’. I was totally lost, all our plans were over.”

Ray had been driving the car and three people were killed. The impact forced the engine onto the front seat.

It was October 20, 1961. The car crashed at Wangaratta.

Anne needed to see Ray’s parents and she travelled on public transport to get there.

“Ray’s mother had tears running down her face and his dad was sorry that he couldn’t do anything about it.”

The Navy handled all the funeral arrangements and brought Ray’s body home to Sydney. A service was held at St George the Martyr Chapel, Watson’s Bay, and he was buried in a flag-draped casket with full military gun salute at Rookwood cemetery on October 25.

“We were all in shock. Ray’s dad and a friend supported me and I can still remember the echo of the guns.”

Anne returned in the mourning coach to the Warwick family home at Wilton and spent two weeks there.

She returned to her mother’s home at Marrickville and became very ill for some time while dealing with intense grief and separation from the man she loved.

With her mother’s encouragement, Anne moved on with life and later remarried. She is a loving mother of five children, a devoted grandmother and great grandmother who will never forget her first love.