1946: Millie and Joey Baker
Millie and Joey Baker will celebrate their 59th wedding anniversary on October 21, 2005. Both were living on the West side of Los Angeles before they met. Millie Lubin and her mother Lena had moved from Memphis, Tennessee, when Millie was still in high school. Joey grew up in Pasadena, but had spent his summers in Venice, California, with an aunt. He went into the Navy and was stationed in San Diego. They met through B’nai B’rith youth organizations. She was president of the Santa Monica women’s chapter, he the men’s. It wasn’t love at first sight. “I wasn’t impressed,” Millie says. “He had on a monkey suit (a navy uniform) and I was wearing a leather jacket.” “I took a look at her in that jacket,” Joey says. “And wondered, ‘Where’s your motorcycle?'” As fate would have it, she didn’t have a car, so whenever the organization needed representatives at other chapters, he would give her a ride. As they got to know each other, things changed. Millie says, “When you open a box and go farther down you see a lot of good.” Millie invited Joey to her brother’s wedding in Lexington, Kentucky, so that he could meet her family. Airplane travel wasn’t the norm then, so Joey was set to drive her mom, his mom, her sister and a nephew to the wedding. He called Millie, who was already in Memphis and asked if she’d marry him. Millie handed the phone to her brother Dr. Milton Lubin and he told Joey that Millie would marry him. “The next thing I knew I was engaged,” Millie says. By the time the car arrived in Memphis, Joey’s and Millie’s wedding was all arranged. They would be married in Louisville on Monday, since all the relatives were already together for her brother’s Sunday wedding in Lexington. Millie admits she didn’t know Joey too well before they were married. Her brother asked, “Did he go to college?” She answered, “I don’t know.” Her sister asked, “Are you getting a ring?” She said truthfully, “I don’t know.” “When we were married, her uncles were taking bets,” says Joey. “They said it wouldn’t last a year.” Millie did get a ring. When Joey left the service, he had $2,000 and spent half of it on the ring. Even today Millie enthusiastically says, “It’s magnificent!” The 19 year-old Millie Lubin and the just 25-year-old Joey Baker were married on October 21, 1946. They took the other thousand dollars he had saved and went on a six-week driving honeymoon, visiting relatives and seeing sights like the Grand Canyon and Carlsbad Caverns. “When we got back,” Joey says, “we were broke.” Joey got some money from the GI Bill and bought a little property in Venice. It had two small houses on it. He had his office in the front of the house, and they lived in rooms in the back, including a bedroom, living room, kitchen and bath. He rented out a house in the back for $25 a month. On their little back porch, they kept their icebox, until Joey’s mother bought them a refrigerator. Joey, who had taken his realtor exam two weeks before he left the service, became so successful in real estate, he was known as the “The Broker of Venice.” They have three children. Norm worked as a lifeguard before he was thrown from a three-wheeler and became paralyzed on one side. Through grit and determination, he didn’t allow it to interfere with life. He also works in real estate. A daughter Jan is a professor at the Rhode Island School of Design, and another son Don is one of the largest commercial developers of real estate in Tucson. They have two grandchildren. The Bakers are reflective as they talk about how their marriage has thrived. Millie says, “It’s not that it wasn’t bumpy sometimes, but if you love each other you marry for good or bad.” “Just try,” Joey says. “Tell your wife ‘I love you’ and ‘Yes, dear’ and you’ll make it through.” Their children planned a 50th wedding anniversary celebration for them, including an exact replica of their original wedding cake. Joey was resplendent in a tux, with a red vest and red cummerbund. Millie surprised everyone when she came down the aisle in a long white wedding dress, the dress she didn’t have in 1946. “I went to Santa Monica and had the best time buying it,” she says. “All the young girls trying on gowns got a kick out of it; so did the rabbi when he saw me.” Joey thoughtfully says, “I guess we’ll celebrate when we get to our 60th.” Millie says, “We’ll make it.” “I’m still in love with her,” Joey says. Millie asks, “Good or bad?” “Good,” he replies. “I’d never met someone I’d rather be with.” Millie adds, “After you’ve lived a long time you start to realize the important things’being healthy, being together, sharing things. What are the main things? Life, family, friends, keeping a good name.”
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