The diamond wedding anniversary of Dr Leah Day OAM and Ron Day

Since that time they've borne four children, and tragically lost one aged just six months. Their marriage has faced the adversity that loss and sadness brings, but by always being each other's greatest supporter, they've managed to come out the other side stronger together.

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"It's a big deal. There's not too many people get here," Mr Day said.

"We lost Melissa when she was six months old. She had lot of disabilities and it was pneumonia in the end, the lungs. She was our first and we thought: 'what will we ever do?' The doctor who was caring for her was the pediatrician head of the Children's Hospital in those days - we're going back to 1969. He said I've seen two children from the same family. So you can just imagine what we felt."

Fearing the same outcome if they were to have any further children, the couple put in for adoption.

"Then we had enough faith. We thought: 'no, it will never happen again.' And then the day I came home pregnant the phone rang and it was Child Welfare. They said: 'we have a baby boy here for you Mrs Day'," Dr Day said.

As a result the adoption didn't come to pass, but soon after the couple welcomed their own baby boy, Paul, to the world.

"He was born in 1971, Amanda was born in 1974 - our only girl now - and Matthew was born in 1980," Dr Day said.

Pulling together through the hard times can be a difficult task in marriage. However, it was something Leah and Ron have always been able to do.

"We also had a lot of family support, and a lot of support from people we didn't know," Dr Day said.

Leah recalls one "wonderful" hospital nursing sister who sat with Melissa all night on the first night she was born.

"They thought she was going to die and that sister is now a lifelong friend," Dr Day said.

"The doctors were very good to us and then the Baptist minister came to see me - I'm Baptist and Ron's Catholic - and he sent a lovely girl who was my age at the time. She lived around the corner from us, and she gave us so much support."

That "girl" became another lifelong friend of the couple.

"The church rallied around us, and when we went to the funeral the place was absolutely packed with people we didn't even know," Dr Day said.

"They had all come because they had been praying for Melissa. It was lovely."

Of all their supporters, Dr Day says her mother was the "greatest" support.

"She came to stay with us and virtually lived with us to help, because we were absolutely worn out," Dr Day said.

"Melissa wouldn't feed. It would take her hours and hours to have just a little bit of milk because she didn't have the strength."

Dr Day credits that support with helping the couple to strengthen their marriage during a time that could have pulled them apart.

"We would never part because I think we're so strong in that belief of supporting each other," Dr Day said.

Southern Highland News asked the couple what stands out to them, when they reflect on their marriage?

"I think the children," Mr Day said.

He was an 18-year-old apprentice boiler maker fresh out of school when he first laid eyes on his 15-year-old bride to be.

That was on the South Coast. Mr Day lived at Thirroul and Dr Day lived at Woonona.

"When we married we eventually went to Sydney because Ron wanted to be a draftsman," Dr Day said.

"And then we came here in 1971 when Paul was born. He was 10 months old."

They've lived in the same house on Murchison Street in Mittagong for 41 years.

"Our wedding was on the back page of the Illawarra Mercury," Mr Day said.

"It was June, 1963. In those days they used to put the weddings on the back page on Mondays. It was: 'Woonona girl marries Austinmer boy.'"

They were married at the Woonona Baptist Church aged 23 and 19.

When they moved to the Highlands Mr Day worked as a design engineer at Moxon's and later Joy Engineering as a design engineer.

In 2016, Dr Day was awarded an OAM for her services to Mittagong's history.

Their daughter Dr Amanda Day says her parents are both keen gardeners who share interests in history, art and genealogy.

"They have had challenges and joys along their journey but at the heart of it are two people with great respect and love for each other, patience, understanding and kindness," Dr Amanda Day said.

"They have raised three children in the Highlands. Paul lives in Darwin and is a trucking engineer; [I'm] an historian and senior government consultant and former diplomat living in Canberra and Matthew is a mining engineer living in Perth.

"They have four granddaughters and recently welcomed a great-grandson to the family. [They] both value education and in 2011 [Dr Day] graduated from the University of Technology Sydney with a PhD."

Dr Amanda Day graduated the same year from ANU with a PhD.

Mr Day recently turned 83. He said his advice for people marrying today would be: "to work together."

Later this year Dr Day will turn 80. She said: "We always support each other."

"We've been blessed with a wonderful family who support us," she said.

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