Clients ‘still as much in love as the day we were married’
Happy anniversary to Resthaven Northern Community Services clients, Mr Ron and Pauline Hall, who have recently celebrated 60 years of marriage.
Looking back on their lives together, Mrs Hall remembers, ‘we met at work in England all those years ago. Ron was a packer at the chemist [J.C. Arfield Manufacturing Chemist, Stockport], after recently returning from the army, and I worked in the Patent Room.’
Mrs Hall was fifteen years old, her husband twenty-one, when they first laid eyes on each other.
‘I remember the first day we met – everyone was going on about him returning, and then I noticed a tall, blonde, handsome man walk in.’
‘At that moment, I remember saying, “He’s just the kind of person I’d like to marry”, and I did!’
‘After seeing how smitten I was, my friend arranged a double date for us to see The Apartment at The Plaza Cinema. Tickets were 1 pound and 6 pence, and Ron paid for everything, including a packet of Maltesers! I thought that was marvellous and it was the first thing I told my Mother upon arriving home.’
Mr and Mrs Hall were married before midday on 1 April 1961, at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church.
The newlyweds soon welcomed three boys and two girls to their family, and in 1975, they relocated to New South Wales, Australia, in the search for secure work.
‘It took us four weeks to travel to Australia by ship, and it was quite a wonderful experience – there was a playground on board for the children, and we regularly joined the crew in the cinema to watch movies.’
After an eight-month stint in Sydney, the family settled down in Craigmore in 1985, where Ron found long-term work at Tops Fertiliser, Port Adelaide, while Pauline cared for the children.
Pauline and Ron have gone on to have eighteen grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.
‘After sixty years, we are just as much in love as the day we were married.’
Now, the couple is supported to live independently through Resthaven Northern Community Services, enjoying the many services available to them.
‘Ron attends the weekly Parkinson’s Group and enjoys fortnightly social visits, spending time listening to music and discussing his record collection.’
‘I only recently joined the social group myself and have made new friends and reconnected with old ones – it is truly wonderful all the things we can do here.’
Congratulations on your special anniversary, Mr and Mrs Hall.
Established in 1935, Resthaven is a South Australian not-for-profit aged care community service associated with the Uniting Church in Australia.
Every day, Resthaven shares the lives and wisdom of older people and their carers, opening doors to the full range of aged care service options available.
Services are provided throughout metropolitan Adelaide, the Adelaide Hills, Murraylands, Riverland, Fleurieu Peninsula, lower Barossa region and the Limestone Coast of South Australia.