At a time when many people are slowing down, well-known entertainer Jackie Lee is still packing her guitar and heading off to musical gigs, community events and aged care facilities across the district.
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Spend a few minutes with Jackie and the stories tumble out almost as quickly as the laughter.
One memory sparks another, revealing an adventurous spirit and a genuine love of people.
Underpinning every chapter is an unwavering passion for music and entertaining.
That journey has taken her from southern England to northern Victoria. Along the way, music has introduced her to legendary performers, including Tom Jones, The Troggs, Eric Burdon and The Animals, to name just a few.
Jackie first stepped onto a stage at just 11 years of age, competing in a talent quest with her brother in a band called the Wiltshire Wombats.
"Back then, I had no idea what a wombat even was," she said.
Performing at such a young age was not unusual in her family. Both parents were entertainers and all their children eventually followed in their footsteps.
Her mother was a jazz singer and, in an era of street telephone booths, neighbourhood children would race down the street yelling, “Mrs Collins, you're wanted on the telephone”.
As a teenager, she performed at an American airbase. After struggling to introduce the young Jacqueline Collins, the compare, who was quite inebriated, finally announced after several attempts, “And here's Jackie Lee”.
The name stuck and marked the beginning of a performing career that has now spanned more than six decades.
Music took Jackie to destinations around the world, sharing stages with some of the biggest names of the era.
One of many career highlights was ‘singing for her supper’, as she describes it, in Nashville, the traditional home of country music.
Living in Germany at one stage, and never one to shy away from new experiences, Jackie joined their Army Motor Transport Division, driving heavy vehicles and training younger recruits.
On one occasion, she and a trainee spotted what they believed was a Russian military vehicle where it definitely should not have been.
"We started bouncing across a paddock chasing it," she said.
"Then I suddenly realised I didn't actually want to catch it."
Eventually, that adventurous spirit brought her to Australia.
After arriving in Tasmania to outside loos and tank water off the roof, she later moved north to Bribie Island, choosing it for one very Jackie-like reason.
"That's where the map seemed to run out," she said.
Another very happy chapter began more than 40 years ago while performing at the Top Pub in Cobram.
Her mother, visiting from England, was accompanying her on piano when local school principal John Taylor arrived with a group of teachers, including Doug McKeen.
There was an immediate connection, and Jackie and Doug have been together ever since.
Although Doug had never played an instrument when they met, with Jackie's encouragement and tuition from local musician John Cooksey, he became her musical partner for life.
Together, they have spent years touring Australia in the Jackie Lee touring bus, becoming familiar faces in country towns wherever the road led.
One stop at Grawin, near Lightning Ridge, produced a memorable story. After a performance, a man introduced himself as music icon Tommy Emmanuel's former guitar teacher. Jackie was sceptical.
Later, she met Tommy and told him.
"Did you really?“ he said. ”How's he going?“
Another outback performance produced a similar surprise.
After watching Doug very closely throughout the evening, a man approached Doug and asked, "Didn't you teach me in Nathalia?"
Around the same time she met Doug, Jackie was also studying nursing. After qualifying, her first placement was in aged care at Mooroopna.
Before long, she was taking her guitar to work.
"They just loved it," she said.
After settling in Cobram, she spent many years at Irvin House, first as a nurse and later organising activities for residents.
Ask Jackie what she remembers most about nursing, particularly in aged care, and it’s an instant response ‒ ‘the people’.
"I loved making them feel special," she said.
"Helping them get dressed, doing their hair and making them feel good about themselves."
Today, she regularly performs at aged care facilities throughout the district, where a familiar song can transform a room.
She has watched residents who moments earlier seemed withdrawn begin tapping their feet, smiling and reaching out a hand for help to dance.
Even during the COVID years, when live performances disappeared overnight, she found another way to stay connected through weekly online performances that reached audiences well beyond Australia.
One honour she particularly treasures was the opportunity to perform at Cobram's Australia Day celebrations.
More recently, she helped bring local musicians together for the district's Fire Relief Concert, showing her commitment to using music to support those in need.
These days Jackie and Doug are often joined by fellow musicians and friends Vanessa and Tom Rankin, along with Brian and Sandy Sullivan, when entertaining at aged care facilities throughout the region.
When she is not performing, Jackie enjoys line dancing to keep fit and proudly shows off her paintings, quilts and mosaics, further evidence that creativity has always been part of who she is.
If the stories, the laughter and the diary of upcoming performances are anything to go by, there are still plenty more songs to sing.