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One dance leads to 60 years of marriage

On 7/18/2008

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Contributed by: Linda Kates on 7/24/2008

One dance led to a lifetime together for Joe and Vivian Robbins of Sherman Oaks more than half a century ago.

In January 1948, Joe and a friend went to Highland Springs Resort in Beaumont because another friend told them the girls there were beautiful and plentiful. At the same time, Vivian Freeman and three friends went to the same resort for the weekend.

The resort had a dance on Saturday night and it took just one dance together for Joe and Vivian to start a romance.

The following Memorial Day, Joe proposed and Vivian accepted. In discussing their wedding plans, Vivian said, "Maybe this fall, like September?"

Joe replied, "I have two weeks of vacation coming to me in July, so it's July or forget it."

Looking back, Joe said he was just showing his practical side. He had two weeks of vacation, so why not use it for their honeymoon?

"He is good at love, compassion and bossiness," Vivian said with a chuckle. "And I listened. And I've listened every since."

And so, they were married July 18 and recently celebrated their 60th anniversary.
Afterthree and a half years in the Air Force, Joe became an executive for several major trucking lines, including Arkansas Best Freight and Navajo Freight Lines. He retired in 1990.

Vivian was a part-time bookkeeper, but her real career was raising their four children - Richard, Ellen and twins Linda and Terry - in their North Hollywood home, where she and Joe lived until four and a half years ago.

They are members of Stephen S. Wise Temple in Bel-Air, where Vivian helps set up the cocktail hour before Friday night services.

After her retirement, Vivian enjoyed oil painting, knitting and writing poems and short stories. "I've done everything creative that can possibly be done," she said.

Joe enjoyed playing golf and still hits the links occasionally with one of his grandsons.

Joe and Vivian have seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

The entire family recently went for a weekend stay at Embassy Suites-Mandalay Bay in Oxnard to celebrate their 60th anniversary.

Compromise is the secret to their long marriage, Vivian said. "You have to give a little," she said. "Sometimes, a lot."

Joe agreed. "Learning to get along," he said. "That's the way it's been and it's gonna be for a few more years."

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