Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance were the perfect comedy duo on the 1950s sitcom I Love Lucy. Not only were they friends on screen but they were also immeasurably close in real life. Now a woman who was present for their final goodbye is letting it known just how deep their love was.
I Love Lucy's Lucille and Vivian
Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance portrayed "Lucy Ricardo" and "Ethel Mertz," the goofball best friends who got themselves into all sorts of trouble! In reality, their friendship lasted a lifetime.
Paige Peterson told People about her experience growing close to Vivian Vance in her later years when Vivian moved into her mother's home and the pair toured together on the show The Marriage Go Round. She had vivid memories from August 1979 when Lucille had come to visit Vivian to say goodbye. Vivian's breast cancer had tragically metastasized into bone cancer and she did not have much longer to live.
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Paige said, "We had brought Viv down and she was lying on the couch in the living room. They ate lunch and talked and talked. Viv knew she was dying." Peterson gave them their privacy but stayed close by in case Vivian needed her help.
"You could hear them laughing, and towards the end there was a lot of sobbing. It was an amazing thing to witness. The love of these two women."
Peterson can still recall Lucille's palpable pain when she left. "The pain on her face shook me to my core. She was in tears. She couldn't speak. I think Viv gave up after that." Vivian Vance passed away days later on August 17th, 1979, at only age 70.
Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill, Lucille and Desi Arnaz's daughter, told People, "She cried about losing Viv for months after that. Viv was, in many ways, like a sister to my mother. She could talk to Mom like nobody else, and I don't think my mother could confide in many people the way she would with Viv."
Paige Peterson has just released the novel Growing Up Belvedere-Tiburon about the history and livelihood of the citizens in Marin County, California.
