Diamond years best yet
• Ronald and Jill Singline celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary on June 11.
By Taylor Clyne
June 17, 2020
After meeting on a blind date more than sixty years ago, Ronald and Jill Singline reminisced on their married life together with great joy after celebrating their diamond anniversary on June 11.
Donning her original wedding dress for the momentous occasion, the pair shared cake, stories and prays with loved ones over the weekend.
Jill was the last of three girls, growing up at Cornwall near St Marys where her father Arthur worked nearby in the coalmines.
As Jill recalls it was a friend who asked her to go on a blind date to meet Ron, and a successful dinner it was with an engagement within a year and then married 12months later.
The couple wed on June 11, 1960 at St Thomas Moore Church in Launceston.
“I left school when I was fifteen years old after winning a scholarship with Pearl Insurance where I worked until married life,” she said.
Ron was born in Scottsdale and grew up in Ringarooma; the rural town was where the couple set up home and had four children together, the three surviving children are Linda, Allan and Brett.
“I left school at 13 years to work on neighbouring farms, milking cows and general farm work,” Ron recalls.
He was always good with his hands, teaching himself to be a builder and enjoying making furniture.
“I found work at the local butter factory and stayed for 17 years before setting up my own business in my passion of building and painting.”
Ron was proud to have made all the furniture for their home during his spare time, also making many wooden toys for their children and later grandchildren.
“My first bike was a BSA Bantam Major 150cc, it was later replaced with a Ford Prefect 1949 which featured two side mirrors on the bonnet,” he remembers fondly.
Jill loved her role in the home being a fulltime wife and mother while also participating in the local community groups; Roman Catholic Church and Hospital Auxiliary.
Ron was part of the local chopping carnivals, later they ran bingo nights at Ringarooma for nine and a half years, raising $93,000 collectively for six organisations.
The Singlines came to James Scott in 2019, first Jill then Ron soon after.
The pair say their best advice for a happy life is being able to give and take.
“Think carefully, be sure it’s what you want and not what everyone else wants.
“I loved being married, you need to be able to give and take,” Jill said.
Ron adding with a laugh, “Be careful, don’t rush into marriage… and don’t think you’re always right.”
A special thanks to Lou Hayward, Sue Cassidy, Pip Hall, Alison Priestly, Aminya staff and family for helping execute their special anniversary under current covid restrictions.