Cairns couple Claude and Rita Ray celebrate 70th wedding anniversary
A Cairns couple who met on the late Queen Elizabeth’s coronation day has shared their secret to a lasting marriage.
Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation was not only a historic day across the globe, but for one Cairns couple, it was the start of their own shared personal history.
Mount Sheridan couple Claude and Rita Ray, who will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary on December 10, 2025, met during the late queen’s coronation celebrations as teenagers in Cairns in 1953.
“It was the Queen’s coronation, that was 1953, and of course they had a big carnival, recreation all over the place,” Claude said.
“Rita just happened to be with a team that played basketball down in the old park, and that’s where we first met.”
The couple, who grew up on farms around Edmonton, were married within two years, with at least one year of long distance while Claude completed his national service in Tasmania.
In 1955, the pair were married.
“Rita was only 18, I was 19, and had just came back from national service,” he said.
The couple went on to manage their own farm before heading to Tasmania to work on Claude’s father’s poultry farm.
“We were born on a farm of course. I just worked around here until we went away, then we worked in Tasmania for 13 years,” Rita said.
When they returned, Claude took on a multitude of jobs to provide for the family, including as an ambulance bearer and spec builder.
“You do it tough, you do it hard. Our first house was an old housing commission house built through the war,” he said.
“We spent the next 10 years building it up, building it down, building it out. That was the (way) of our life – if we couldn’t afford it, we made it – you had to do or go without.”
The couple maintained hard work and sticking together throughout life’s challenges was the cornerstone to a lasting marriage.
“We went out on our own and did the best we could and this is the result,” Claude said.
“I don’t think there’s any one thing that can summarise the 70 years, it’s just year after year after year … and you’re able to build it up.”
Rita credited her husband for his good behaviour throughout their marriage.
“He never smoked or drank heavily, all he did was work,” she said.
Now, the couple enjoy spending time with their two children, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
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Originally published as Cairns couple Claude and Rita Ray celebrate 70th wedding anniversary
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