Bob and Marge Gold Ride Today as Parade Marshals

Residents of Pacific Palisades since 1978, Bob and Marge Gold were selected to ride as marshals of the town’s Fourth of July parade.

In making this annual decision, PAPA (the Palisades Americanism Parade Association) looks for individuals or couples who have been active in the community.

“The Golds are amazing,” said PAPA board member Arnie Wishnick, who as executive director of the Chamber of Commerce has worked with them in several volunteer capacities.

“Thrilled,” was the couple’s reaction to the honor, and they both modestly gave credit back to the great town they live in. “It’s really easy to be part of this community,” Bob said.

“Our town is full of activists,” Marge noted. “People volunteer at Theatre Palisades, the Woman’s Club, in the schools. Volunteers play a huge part in this town. When you move here, you find your passion and then you volunteer. There are so many areas to contribute.”

“Everyone pitching in and helping is what makes this community strong,” Bob said. “So many towns in Los Angeles sort of flow into one another, but Palisades is unique because we have a Village center, we have a residential area and a boundary from the rest of the world.”

A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Marge was chair of the Village Green Committee for three years and is still active with the group, and also helps with Chamber events such as the Mr. and Miss Palisades contest. She trains volunteers for the post critical-care unit at Saint John’s Health Center and is on call for No One Dies Alone. Marge also received a Community Council Sparkplug Award in 2010 and was Fire Station 69’s Honorary Fire Chief in 2012.

Bob, who is originally from Brooklyn, New York, is on the board of the Village Green Committee. He volunteered for five years at the Aero Theater on Montana Avenue and for three years for Friends of the Palisades Library. Now Bob volunteers in the Palisades library at least twice a month as a “router,” helping find books on the shelves requested by other branches and sending them over.

The Golds are also active on the Fourth of July. This year, Bob will either run in the Will Rogers 5K or help with the pre-race preparations and Marge will help set up the pre-parade VIP luncheon at the Methodist Church; together, they will again be ticket-takers for the concert/fireworks show at Palisades High.

Marge attended Ursuline College in Louisville for a year and then business school, before moving to a Santa Monica apartment in 1959 with her first husband. The couple had two children. Michael and Leslie, and lived in the San Fernando Valley and then Brentwood before divorcing.

After volunteering in her granddaughter Marcella’s Kenter Canyon classroom from kindergarten through fifth grade, Marge looked for other volunteer opportunities when Marcella moved to Paul Revere,

“I saw an article in the Palisadian-Post about Angels in the ER at St. John’s,” Marge said, noting that although she didn’t work with that particular group, it led to other work at the hospital and then to the Village Green in 2005.

She and Bob met through mutual friends at Zucky’s on Wilshire. On November 20, which is Bob’s birthday, they will be married 33 years.

“We’re joined at the hip,” Marge said of Bob, who has been retired for 19 years. He attended Georgia Tech (“I liked the song ‘Rambling Wreck from Georgia Tech,’” he jokes when asked why a New Yorker would choose Georgia) and received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1955. Recruited by Boeing in Seattle and North American Aviation in Los Angeles, Bob was offered more money to come to Southern California, which sealed his decision. Subsequently, he worked for Hughes Aircraft and then Xerox.

Bob and his first wife lived in the Valley, where they raised five children: Steven, Phillip, David, Kathi and Wendy.

Collectively, the Golds have eight grandchildren, ages 7 to 23, and agree that “Moving here was the best thing we’ve ever done.”

“This community is special,” Marge said. “We have an active Chamber, a Community Council, a newspaper, a farmers’ market, a Village Green and a town center.”