Couple celebrate 70 years of marriage

Norma and Bill Bowman celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary on Aug. 30.

In January 1941, Norma Smith Hall was 20 years old when she was working for Metropolitan Life Insurance on the third floor of the Bank of America building on the corner of Broadway and Brand Boulevard in Glendale.

William Ross Bowman, then 31, met Norma there when he was a bank teller for Bank of America. The building’s ground floor lobby featured a snack bar with candy, cigarettes and ice cream. Bank tellers often convened there during breaks, and it was there that Bill first spotted Norma.

One evening, Norma carried two bags of groceries as she waited for the bus when Bill asked if she would like a ride home. She agreed, and the subsequent rides home every so often turned into casual dates between the couple.

On Aug. 30, 1941, they wed at Norma’s mother’s house at 1220 Cottage Grove Ave. in Glendale, where the fireplace and mantel were decorated with white flowers and candles.

The married couple then took off in his 1938 Ford Coupe to spend Labor Day weekend in Las Vegas.

During their 70 years together, they have lived in Glendale, Montrose, La Cañada and La Crescenta.

Norma is 90 and Bill is 101. They live in La Crescenta in a home they have lived in for 48 years.

They have two sons, Chris Bowman of Santa Barbara and Ross Bowman of La Crescenta, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.