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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 16, 2015)
6 Wednesday, December 16, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Sisters couple marks long road to 50 years By Jim Cornelius News Editor Bill and Zoe Willitts cel- ebrated 50 years of marriage on November 24. They’ll be the first to tell you, the long road has not been an easy one. “It’s amazing, because we shouldn’t be married!” Zoe told The Nugget. “Everything we did, we did backwards.” The couple sat down with The Nugget last week in hopes of providing a little encouragement to other cou- ples — on the theory that if Bill and Zoe could make it work, despite obstacles of cir- cumstance and temperament, others can, too. Bill and Zoe met in high school in San Anselmo when she was just 16. They shared a driver’s ed class, and a friend of Bill’s — posing as Bill — called Zoe and expressed interest in asking her out. After that, Zoe couldn’t fig- ure out why Bill wasn’t pay- ing more attention to her. He thought she was flirting with him. “He wasn’t really that interested in me, actually,” Zoe recalled. “But I really liked him. I thought he was really cute.” The turning point came when Bill was supposed to fight a college boy in a clas- sic off-in-the-hills show- down. Things looked bleak for young Willitts as dozens of kids gathered to witness the donnybrook. “Here comes this big bruiser and he’s gonna hit Bill,” Zoe recalled. “So I jumped on his back ’cause I thought that would help Bill.” Bill describes that fateful leap as resembling “a feral cat.” The fight fizzled and the relationship took a spark. But that tendency to do things backwards kicked in right away. Bill got Zoe preg- nant — and, man, that was all she wrote. Initially, they gave their daughter Shannon up for adoption, but the foster fam- ily that was supposed to adopt got cold feet and they ended up taking her back. Shannon would be the first of five children. The couple got married. Zoe was 17; Bill 19, and still full of wild oats. “I was playing house,” Zoe recalled of those early days. “I just wanted to get married and have kids.” Bill was still sowing those wild oats, and he was often in petty trouble. He was working as a plumber, before joining the family business, Willitts Designs and Collectibles, which he would eventually turn into a major designer and importer. Success came, but the mar- riage struggled. There was a lot of passion there, but it was often expressed as anger in what Bill describes as the typ- ical arguments over finances and time. The couple separated for nine months, and actually filed for divorce. But the divorce did not work out. Wonderful Fridays Dec. 18, 4 to 6 p.m. Paintings & Pottery Wine, appetizers, , and Red Bow specials! p Dan Rickards Ken Merrell 303 W. Hood Ave., Sisters • 541-549-4994 www.danrickards.com • www.theclearwatergallery.com Unique gifts for that special someone Gift cards are now available! 100 1 00 E E. C Cascade d A Ave. Sisters, Oregon 541-549-6451 Why? They’re not entirely sure. “I just think there’s some- thing magical,” Zoe said. “I don’t know.” “I really couldn’t find any- body like her,” Bill said of the months apart. “She’s a bit unplugged, but she’s authentic and she’s fun. I’m still very passionate about her. I love everything about her.” Some dear friends made a significant impact for the couple. “The mentors came and we were just smart enough to pay attention,” Bill says. Jim and Jeanette Turrini modeled success as a couple and Bill wanted to know the trick. “They gave us the trick,” Bill said. “And it’s so simple: Never give up. I needed their wisdom. It’s just too easy to throw up your hands… I think it’s just too easy to give up.” He falls back on one of his mother’s favorite sayings: “The sugar is at the bottom of the cup.” Another turning point came through the radio, from a country song — “Meet in TREATING SPORTS INJURIES Children & Adults photo by Jim corneLius over 50 years, Bill and Zoe Willitts have learned to “meet in the middle.” the Middle.” Bill acknowledges that he wants to get his way and that he can flash angry when thwarted. He realized that he didn’t always have to be “right,” and that he was “sick of having the same five arguments.” He and Zoe took the song to heart and Bill began to work on meeting in the mid- dle, “instead of selling my side and pushing it on her and See 50 years on page 14 • Eyelash Extensions • Airbrush Tanning • Manicures • Pedicures Three Sisters Chiropractic 270 S. Spruce St., Sisters Dr. Inice Gough, DC, 541.549.3583 ThreeSistersChiropractic.com • Gel Nails • Nikibiki Apparel Sarah Rybka, Owner/Technician 473 W. Hood Ave., Ste. 101