It was probably the best birthday that Bob Bliven was ever likely to have.
When his friend Lynn Moody asked Bob to ride with him to Spokane on his 17th birthday on Nov. 24, 1954, the two could not have known what the day would hold.
Lynn was going to visit his girlfriend, Diane. Bob went along for the ride.
As he sat in the car outside the home Lynn had come to visit, Bob noticed through the living room window that there was not one, but two girls in the house.
“Why am I sitting out here?” Bob thought.
He knocked on the door and was invited in. Lynn introduced Bob to Diane and Gwen Green. Gwen was on the phone. It was obvious to Bob that she was upset with the person on the phone. Bob asked if he could have the phone. The guy on the other end was Gwen’s boyfriend.
“I said, ‘I don’t know who you are but you are upsetting this lovely girl. Don’t worry about it because I’ll take care of her,’ ” Bob said.
Bob hung up the phone and introduced himself to his future wife.
Bob and Gwen Bliven of Bothell will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary at 4 p.m. Oct. 14 in Stanwood.
The couple were married Oct. 13, 1956, in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
Bob and Gwen have two children and seven grandchildren.
When they met for the first time, Bob thought Gwen was one of the prettiest girls he’d ever seen. The two couples went out for a drive and a soda. That was it.
“I fell in love with her,” Bob said.
That summer, and throughout his senior year, Bob traveled from Coeur d’Alene to Spokane to visit Gwen. The young couple went dancing and to their senior proms.
After they were married, Bob joined the Coast Guard. The couple moved to Lynnwood from Spokane in 1962. Gwen has been a homemaker all her life.
“She’s done a great job at it, too,” Bob said.
Gwen has always been by Bob’s side, but allows him his space, too. He likes to hunt every year.
“She did a wonderful job as a mother,” Bob said.
Bob and Gwen married a year after Lynn and Diane, the other couple who were there on Bob’s birthday in 1954. The four live only a few miles away from each other. Diane and Gwen have been friends since second grade.
Most of the time, Bob finds it hard to believe that 50 years have passed. One of the keys to their great marriage is compromise, Bob said. Gwen is his stabilizer, and when he thinks of her he thinks of comfort.
“A lot of comfort and joy,” Bob said.
For information on Love Story and Celebrations, please contact Christina Harper at 425-339-3491 or e-mail harper@heraldnet.com.
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