Why we use 'Past Perfect' in two mini-story?

Hello All,
Suppose we have two mini-story(A,B).
Now i want to know why we use 'Past Perfect' tense when we want ask some questions about story?

A-DEAR ABBY:
I am a single woman in my early 30s who has never been married. I recently fell in love with a wonderful
man with whom I spend a great deal of time...

1-Had the woman been married? No. She hadn't been married. She had never been married.
2-Did the woman hesitate or did the woman reveal her love? Well, the woman hesitated. She hesitated

why writer use 'Past Perfect' on the sentence 1 and don't use 'past Perfect' on sebtence 2?

B-Sara recently retired from her job of 23 years. Because she retired, Sara has less money than
she used to...

How long had sarah worked at her job?Sarah had worked at her job for 23 years.
why writer use 'Past Perfect' on the above sentence?
why writer didn't use 'present perfect' or 'simple past'?

And Finally question, what does 'my early 30s' mean? it means she is more than 30 like 31 or 32 or 33 ... or she is less that 30 like 27 or 28 or 29

Is it possible to describe in a clear and simple way because i am extremely confused of when using which tense in english language?
And why Using them?

Thanks in advanced.