Bonny Hills residents Reg and Michele Wilkinson celebrated 50 years of marriage surrounded by family at a local Chinese restaurant on September 30.
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Reg and Michele met while working at Fibre Containers in Matraville in 1964.
“They had a social club at Fibre Containers and they had a movie on so I asked Michele if she wanted to go,” Reg said.
“He asked asked me out and ‘I said ok why not?’”
The couple quickly fell in love and within 12 months they were married at St Bernard’s Catholic Church in Botany on September 30, 1967.
Michele was 20-years-old when she got married and Reg was 22-years-old.
The couple have six children John, Anne (twins), Jayne (deceased), Kerry, Gail and Paul. They have eight grandchildren and one great grandchild.
Michele and Reg had five children all aged under five -years-old.
“You just seemed to manage,” Michele said.
“They were good, played with each other, kept each other amused and looked after each other.”
Reg said in today’s technological age not enough people are courting like they used to, there is a lack of communication between couples and and they don’t work at the marriages.
Michele said with technology everything is ‘instantaneous’.
“In the old days if I went out Reg would just wait until I got home,” she said.
Reg said instead of talking with one another face to face people are texting instead.
He said it’s easy to express emotions over messages but it isn’t healthy for the relationship.
“Does the person really mean it?,” he said.