Diamond couple’s generous charity gesture
Family and friends asked to donate to hospice
Diamond couple Ruby and Bill Johnstone chose to raise money for charity rather than receive presents for their milestone anniversary.
The couple celebrated 60 years of married life surrounded by their close family – including their goddaughter who flew in from Toronto, Canada – at the Lynnhurst Hotel in Johnstone.
And they asked their friends and family that instead of giving them presents, they make a donation to St Vincent’s Hospice in Howwood instead.
Eldest son Fraser Johnstone, 59, said: “Mum and dad didn’t want any presents. What do you buy a couple who’ve been together that long anyway?
“They asked if anyone wants to donate anything, they’d give a donation to St Vincent’s Hospice. Our family and our extended family in Montreal, Canada, have made a donation.”
Ruby and Bill met when she was 16 and he 17 at a friend’s house in Paisley. They went on their first date to the Pavilion cinema in Johnstone.
Ruby said: “From then on we became boyfriend and girlfriend. Bill went away for National Service in the forces and we corresponded a lot. We got engaged before he left. When he came back we got married.”
Ruby was 23 and Bill was 24 when they married at the Thread Street Church in Paisley and enjoyed a celebration afterwards at Cafe Riché. They spent their first night as a married couple in the Blythswood Hotel in Glasgow then enjoyed a week-long honeymoon in Edinburgh.
Ruby was delighted to be chosen as the April Bride of the Month in the Paisley Pictorial newspaper and she still has the copy of the paper from the day.
The couple’s first home was in Springbank Road, across from where Ruby grew up and her mum still lived.
Fraser, 59, said: “Our tenement backed on to the North Stand of Love Street. I was born just a couple of months before St Mirren won the Scottish Cup in 1959. “We’re all big St Mirren fans.” The pair have another son Scott, 56, as well as six grandsons, one granddaughter and one greatgranddaughter, six- year- old Brooke.
The couple are both keen members of Me i k l e r i g g s Bowling Club in Paisley and also enjoy spending time with their family. They also attend the New Jerusalem Church in George Street in Paisley.
Keeping a marriage together for 60 years is a wonderful achievement and Ruby has some simple words of advice on making it work.
She said: “You’ve got to have give and take and don’t go to sleep on an argument.”
You’ve got to have give and take Ruby Johnstone