THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 23, 1996 TAG: 9602230446
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KRYS STEFANSKY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
It was 1924. A Ford was a bargain that year, selling for just $290.
Airmail flew from New York City to San Francisco in a 27-hour transcontinental test run. Spin clothes dryers were introduced.
And Nesbitt B. and Betty Riviere tied the knot in Norfolk one awful cold February afternoon.
Seventy-two years ago today. They've been married to each other longer than some people get to live a lifetime. They've toted up a score of blessings - three children, two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Their hearing's going, their memories aren't so clear and their health could be better. But that old spark is still alive.
``She's the best damn woman in the country,'' says Neb Riviere (pronounced Revere), a gleam in those 90-year-old baby blues.
``That's what he's always telling me now,'' laughs his wife, who's 89.
``I had to wait to get old before he told me that.''
He tells her that a lot. Every night before they go to bed at Leigh Hall Retirement Residence in Norfolk. It's been a good marriage, built on traditional roles and religious foundation.
``We've had our mountains to climb,'' Betty Riviere says. Calling it quits was never an option. ``We both come from Christian families. My mother thought divorces and breakups were scandalous. She always said, `What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.' I never even told my mother when we had an argument.''
The Rivieres met on a blind date when he was 18 and she was 17. They both lived in boarding houses in Richmond and worked for the C&P Telephone company. Then, Neb Riviere installed switchboard equipment in a career that was to last nearly 44 years. Betty was a switchboard operator. She was engaged to a minister's son and agreed to a double date just to do a girlfriend a favor.
``I came over that Sunday night and we all went out to get a soda,'' he says.
``He kept the telephone hot from that time on,'' she says. In two weeks he proposed. Three months later they got married.
``I don't believe in love at first sight,'' says Betty Riviere. ``I think love has to grow. But we were infatuated with each other. He had dark hair, you know, kind of wavy and a beautiful white smile.''
They moved to Norfolk where his parents lived and a few years later ran into their first big bump in the road. Betty Riviere had gotten a job in Portsmouth, a streetcar and ferry ride from home. Her husband made her quit.
``I was so lonely I cried myself to sleep every night,'' she says.
Things got better when they decided after nearly seven years of marriage they could afford children. The first two were born during the Depression, the third was a surprise 11 years later.
The family lived for 34 years in the same house in Glenwood Park on Neb's modest salary.
His middle child remembers the time as wonderful.
``Everyone in that little neighborhood went to the same church and school. It was one big happy family,'' says Lorraine R. White.
White says her parents were strict. Betty Riviere, not her husband, was the disciplinarian.
``He'd never whip the children. He'd just fuss at 'em,'' she says. But ultimately, he was head of the household.
``I always listened to him and I reckon that's why we've been together 72 years,'' she says.
The key to a good marriage is to marry a good Christian girl, says Neb Riviere. But there's a heavenly hand in it, too.
``Don't worry too much about picking the wrong one. Don't ask me why. I guess the good Lord tells you, this is the one you're going to pick for your wife. Don't worry about it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
BETH BERGMAN/The Virginian-Pilot
Nesbitt Riviere proposed to Betty two weeks after they met on a
blind date. Now the couple, who live in Norfolk, are celebrating
their 72nd year.
by CNB