So happy together … Jean and Lindsay Hume have been living in wedded bliss for the past 60 years. 55954 Picture: DAMJAN JANEVSKI
By Belinda Nolan
THEY have spent 60 years in each other’s arms but it wasn’t exactly love at first sight for Lindsay and Jean Hume.
The Sunshine couple first locked eyes in the 1940s while working for an electrical engineering firm in Lonsdale Street.
“He was working on electric motors and I was on the switchboard and every time he’d come past he’d say ‘good morning’ and ‘good night’,” Jean recalled.
But it wasn’t until several years later that the pair finally hit it off, after bumping into each other at a dance in Moonee Ponds.
“She came up to me and said “I know you,” and that’s how it all started,” Lindsay said.
The couple finally swapped vows in 1950 on a dark and drizzly Derby Day.
“After all those days saying hello and goodbye, he married me so he got to say goodbye properly,” Jean joked.
Although the happiest day of their lives, the couple’s chosen wedding date did raise a few eyebrows at first.
“My father was a bookmaker and Derby Day was one of the biggest days in the year for them,” Lindsay said. “I don’t think he was too happy with us at first but he got over it OK.”
Their marriage may have lasted a lifetime but their icing look-alikes are giving them a run for their money.
The couple still keeps a photograph of themselves made out of icing, which adorned the cake at their 50th wedding anniversary a decade ago.
“The cake was delicious but when it came to our heads I couldn’t possibly eat it so I stuck it in the freezer and it’s been there for the past 10 years,” Jean said.
“It will probably be there for another 10 years until someone one day sells it on eBay.”
When asked the secret to their remarkable romance the couple say understanding is the key ingredient.
“You have to turn a deaf ear from time to time,” Jean said.
“Agreeing on everything helps,” Lindsay said.
“We don’t have many disagreements but then I’ve always thought Jean was an easy person to get along with since the day I met her.”
The couple celebrated their anniversary last week with a special lunch followed by time with friends and family.
