LOCALS Reg and Yvonne Smith are a symbol of true love and are set to mark 65 years of marriage.
Letters in the post from the Governor General and Prime Minister accompany the celebration, but as Reg told Local Ipswich News, the romance began with no frills and sprung from humble beginnings.
Their love story began across the counter of the post office at Taringa East, and Reg remembers it like it was yesterday.
“I was relieving the postmaster, and Yvonne worked in the chemist next door,” the Leichardt resident said.
“It was almost love at first sight as they say.”
Yvonne would go on to work at the Postmaster General’s office along with Reg for almost four decades, she told Local Ipswich News.
“We worked in a number of offices chasing promotions out west and then in Brisbane,” she said.
“We had some years in Windorah, Tambo and Cunnamulla.”
Reg was the postmaster and Yvonne worked on the telephone exchange, from 1965 to 1972.
On retirement they bought a caravan and four-wheel drive and spent the next 13 years travelling all over Australia but eventually returned to call Ipswich home.
Their two daughters and two sons delivered them 18 grandchildren, and they now have 23 great grandchildren.
They love life in Ipswich and doing things together. Their key to a happy and long marriage is clear to them.
“For us it was about being best friends as well as lovers.
