They say that diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but Margaret Evans did one better and married a jeweller.
Mrs Evans, who is celebrating her
diamond wedding anniversary, was satisfied with her engagement ring and a grander diamond she received much later, courtesy of the jewellery business her
husband Doug Evans owned.
Mr and Mrs Evans celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on October 28 last year and Mrs Evans confessed she had
forgotten that it was a special milestone.
The couple officially met at either the Solomontown Beach or the “Den” which was a gathering place in Ellen Street for returned soldiers.
“I can’t remember which,” said Mrs Evans.
Mr Evans had previously been called up in the Australian Imperial Force and sent to New Guinea.
Then four years later he returned to Port Pirie and while in his army uniform, riding his bike past the young Margaret, he winked at her.
“The wink didn’t impress me at all,” Mrs Evans said.
But later when he started working across the road from where she worked, she saw him again and said to herself, “he is not bad”.
“Doug used to court me on the back of a motorbike until I realised he couldn’t ride it,” she said.
And that was that, the bike got sold. The romance blossomed and Mrs Evans said that she thinks they got engaged because her beau was told it was about time he got married.
The couple were engaged for two years and during that time, Mr Evans started up a watch making business in the Austral Building in 1948 then he went on to run a successful jewellery business where he worked until his retirement in 1983.
Karen, Kerry and Neil were born and, in addition to their own children, Mr and Mrs Evans have four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, with one on the way.
Mr and Mrs Evan’s first home was above Wells Shoe Shop, then they built a house in Williams Street followed by their move to their existing home in Senate Road where they have lived for the past 40 years. With the house now too big, plans are in hand to sell and move into a retirement village in Port Pirie.
A jewellery expo took Mr and Mrs Evans to Italy, Switzerland and England and they have enjoyed five “terrific” cruises on ocean liners.
They both agreed that sharing family times added to the reasons they have enjoyed so many fulfilling years of
marriage.
Caravanning and time spent at their holiday home in Port Hughes, boating, fishing and skiing with their families were special times.
Mrs Evans, 83, only stopped playing social tennis last year and has supported her husband while he was a competitive rifle shooter.
The couple have volunteered for Meals on Wheals, working together for about 22 years.
While Mr Evans ran the business, Mrs Evans was never idle.
She is involved in the Polish Pioneer Descendants Group and the SA Genealogy organisation.
This saw her research a book on her
family dating from 1854 to 2001, which took her a decade to finish.
She is a gifted artist and has several beautiful landscapes displayed in her home.
When asked what the secret was for a long, happy marriage Mrs Evans said, “Just take each day without expectations”.
Mr Evans, 86, said that having a caring and supportive wife is what kept the marriage alive.
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