Tehachapi couple celebrates 63 years of marriage

On Dec. 9 Dick and Ellie Baxter will be celebrating 63 years of marriage. It was in Indiana that the couple first met. Dick was working as an underwriter for an insurance company when he noticed a pretty file clerk in the office. She noticed him too and told a friend,"See that guy over there? I'm going to marry him." Ellie was the one to make the first move and ask him out. They married on December 9, 1955.

Dick said at that time in Indiana women could marry at 18, but men needed to be 21. As they were both 20 at the time, Ellie can say that she married an underage man.

"I'm a cradle robber," says Ellie.

The Baxters moved to California where Dick became business manager to such notables as Kathryn Grayson and Dale Evans. They moved to Tehachapi in 2000 to get away from the Hollywood scene. In 2007, Dick published, "Standing Tall in the Shadows - Memoir of a Hollywood Manager" a book that is still available from Barnes and Nobel and Amazon. For more on Dick and Ellie Baxter, check out an in-depth article that was published in the March 18, 2017 issue of The Loop.

Dick has been composing lyrics since he was quite young. He formed the ASCAP licensed Dick Baxter Publishing early in his Hollywood career. A new recording of his song "Miracle of Miracles" is expected to be released in time for Christmas.