Happy Birthday to the Twins!

 Happy birthday to Jack & Tom Hingerty who would have been 98 today!

Jack & Tom 70th birthday 1993

Jack and Tom were born in Temora on 23 December 1923. 

John William Hingerty (Jack) always said he was born 20 minutes before his brother Thomas Patrick (Tom) Hingerty.

Their mother, Margaret Jane (Peggy) Molony Hingerty, walked up to the hospital while in labour. Her feet were so swollen that for weeks prior to the birth she wore old slippers. So, she walked up to the hospital in the slippers. She was married at 31 years of age and was 32 years old when she bore the twins.

Peggy's younger sister Imelda (Mel) who was 15 years old was sent from her home in Adelong to Temora to help her older sister with the babies. 

Mel stayed in Temora, helped to raise the twins and their younger brother Edward Francis (Ted) who was born in April 1926. Mel later married in Temora and raised her own family there.

In their younger days the twins were inseparable. They developed their own twin language as toddlers and later excelled at swimming in the local competitions.

Tom Hingerty

Tom joined the army and served in Darwin during the bombing by the Japanese. He married Hazel Savage and they lived in North Sydney and later Elanora Heights in Sydney's northern suburbs. He worked for many years with the O'Brien Glass Company.

Tom and Hazel had one son, Roderick Stuart Hingerty who tragically died in a car accident when he was 18 years old.

Tom had a lifelong passion for building and flying model airplanes.

Jack Hingerty

Jack completed the Leaving Certificate at the local Catholic school. This was unusual as the school did not offer classes for the last 2 years of school. Usually those who wished to complete their schooling went away to boarding school. In Jack's cohort there were a few boys who the nuns saw were capable of higher learning, but who's parents could not afford to send them to boarding schools. One of the nuns offered to tutor these boys through their final 2 years. The boys sat at the back of the Intermediate class (the highest year offered by the school) and worked their way through the syllabus with the assistance of this very generous nun. They all gained the Leaving Certificate.

After leaving school, Jack immediately began work in the Commonwealth Bank in Temora. Thus began a lifelong career in the Commonwealth Bank in branches in Temora, Narrandera, Petersham, Balmain and Barrack Street in the city (Sydney). Jack was a member of the Labor Party and was honoured with a Lifetime Membership for his long term commitment to the party. 

The twins celebrated their 70th birthday together in 1993.

Tom died in December 1993.

Jack died in January 2008.

Happy birthday Jack and Tom!

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