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Hard work is Geraldton sisters’ motto

Tamra CarrGeraldton Guardian
Sisters Rose Ann Jupp and Patricia Shaw share a laugh.
Camera IconSisters Rose Ann Jupp and Patricia Shaw share a laugh. Credit: Tamra Carr

When Rose-Ann Jupp was 12 she met her future husband Gary Jupp, a handsome cricketer who played for Walkaway in the 1950s.

The pair were shy about their budding romance, so younger sister Patricia Shaw decided to help move things along.

“I picked up a cigarette paper and wrote Rose-Ann loves you on it, then gave it to him,” Ms Shaw, 65, laughed.

“I was only about 10.”

Mrs Jupp, 67, doesn’t resent her sister for interfering.

Last Friday, she had officially been married to the former athlete for 50 years.

The siblings are tight-knit and well-known in Geraldton.

They have committed much of their lives to volunteer and charity work, including more than 20 years of raising funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Their mother suffered with kidney disease and used the flying doctor service about 17 times.

Mrs Jupp said the sisters wanted to make sure Geraldton and Mid West families always had the plane available when in need.

Equally as strong as their belief in helping people, are the pair’s thoughts on long marriages.

While Mr and Mrs Jupp celebrated their 50th anniversary last week, their eldest son has been married 28 years, their middle son 15 years and their youngest son 19 years.

“I don’t believe in divorce as it happens now,” Mrs Jupp said.

“A marriage has to be worked at, never perfect, but it has to be worked at. Sometimes you’ll just get mad because he keeps throwing towels on the floor, or he leaves the toilet seat up or can’t replace the toilet roll. But you work at it.”

Mrs Jupp married her husband at St Francis Xavier Cathedral like her parents and her grandparents before her.

The pair didn’t do anything special to celebrate their anniversary.

Mrs Jupp says they’re just too old for that.

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