A history of us, part 3

Part 2.

Twenty years before Ludwig and Maria celebrated their marriage in Madrid, another (seemingly unrelated) young couple wed in Sydney, Australia. Ron and Beryl met at a dance in Sydney in the 1930s and, as for Ludwig and Maria, it was love at first sight. They wed on the 6th of April, 1939.

Ron was the eldest of the three sons of Morton, a travelling salesman, and Vida (who, incidentally, could trace her ancestry back to convict origins—her great-grandfather was transported to Australia to serve a fourteen year sentence for embezzlement in 1818. A dubious claim to fame, yes, but an interesting one nonetheless). Ron grew up in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, attending technical college as a teenager to become a draftsman.

Beryl was the middle child of seven, born in Cooma to Frank, a plumber, and Frida, originally from Germany. Frank was an excellent plumber but not a very shrewd businessman—he was always completing work at cost for friends and townsfolk in financial troubles. Frida called her children her “seven little Australians” because of the rife anti-German racism in the aftermath of the first world war (a tradition that carried over to Ron and Beryl’s own seven children).

Their romance, like that of Ludwig and Maria, was intense and enduring. They had seven children of their own (whether this was a coincidence or a plan I am unsure), and lived in the same house in the inner-west of Sydney for nearly their whole married life, which lasted for over sixty years, ending only by death.

They are both gone now (momentarily). Ron was a hero to many and an enemy to few; Beryl was a beautiful, calming soul. Their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren remember them. Constantly.

To be continued.