By BRIDGET SCOTT
SIXTY years down the track and Don Stonehold still refers to his beloved wife as ‘my sweetheart’.
On Thursday 8 August, Cranbourne East residents Eva and Don Stonehold celebrated 60 years of marriage and proved true love does exist.
The way the pair met is still vivid in both their minds, and Eva has her sister to thank as the match-maker.
Working alongside Mrs Stonehold’s sister in running a Sunday school, Don caught a glimpse of Eva and decided he had to meet her.
“Don said I would like to meet your young sister,” explained Mrs Stonehold.
“He asked her, would you bring her along to the social on Thursday night?”
Hesitant at first, Mrs Stonehold said “no, I’m not going to no church social”, but her sister talked her into the idea of it, and she went along and waited nervously to meet the man who would be her future husband.
“All of a sudden, three young lads came in the door and he was in the middle,” she said.
“Of course he wanted to back out, but they got hold of him on each side and marched him in.”
A couple of days passed, and Mrs Stonehold said she remembers being in her garden with her mother when she saw Don walking towards them.
“My mother and I were out in the garden, and all of a sudden someone comes walking down,” she said.
“There is this young lad with curly hair and dark brown eyes, to ask my mum could if he could take me out tonight.”
It was Don, and the rest as they say, is history.
The couple were married at Parkdale Methodist Church and are now the proud grand-parents of nine grand-children and nine great grand-children.
A plumber by trade, Don only recently officially retired, but still keeps busy as a dedicated member of Manchester Unity.
Eva is also a part of this friendly society and the pair both worked their way to the top of the ranks, with Eva the first ever lady director.
The couple have now settled in Cranbourne East, and celebrated their wedding anniversary in a romantic way true to their relationship.
On 10 August, Don and Eva renewed their wedding vows in front of family and friends.
Their granddaughter Laura also dressed in her grand-mothers original wedding dress to help re-enact the day.
With a long and successful marriage behind them and bright days ahead, Eva said there is one piece of advice that stuck in her head.
“One thing my mother taught was, if you have a dispute, you never go to bed unless one apologises or you sort it out, you never go to bed and sleep on it,” she said.
