“I was so excited that when I was getting ready to leave for Frisch’s, I forgot to grab my billfold,” David said with a laugh on Saturday, 50 years after the now-infamous snafu. “Thankfully, Ruby said, ‘That’s alright,’ and she paid for the first date. After that, I’ve been sure to pay from then on.”
Ruby and David, 70 and 71, gathered on Saturday with 50 of their closest friends and family at the Frisch’s on Wilmington Pike in Kettering to celebrate their upcoming 50th wedding anniversary. That brought back stories of the first date. The couple ordered two Big Boys and two fries that night.
Just weeks later, they were married.
“We had only dated for three weeks and I asked her to marry me; we got married a month after that, on Nov. 16, 1974,” David said.
Though Ruby was surprised by the proposal’s timing — her initial response was, “Aren’t you supposed to say ‘I love you’ first?” — she quickly accepted.
“It’s been a good 50 years; I can say we’ve been blessed,” she said on Saturday.
They went on to have two children and now share four grandchildren.
“My mom and dad have been great examples of what marriage is and how two people work together to make a marriage work,” said Maressa Hoskins, one of the couple’s two daughters. “My husband and I have been married for 25 years, and my sister and her husband have been married for 20, so we’ve done well by watching them.”
The couple had been planning for the last year to renew their vows in front of the iconic Big Boy statue in front of the Kettering Frisch’s building.
“This is a big thing for us ... and we love this restaurant; after coming here 50 years ago together, we still come here regularly, about twice a week,” David said.
The Frisch’s Big Boy restaurant chain is in the middle of a major downsizing, with eviction filings that could force the closure of a dozen southwest Ohio locations.
“It hurts me to see these closures happening because this is one of our favorite restaurants; coming here is like a tradition for us,” David said, noting that staff at the diner have become like family. “The waitresses and managers are No. 1; they’re just great to us every time we come in here.”
Troy’s Frisch’s Big Boy location just off of West Main Street closed last week, following the news of closures in Springfield, Middletown, and Lebanon.
WCPO-TV reported has at least 10 Frisch’s locations have been evicted in Hamilton County in recent weeks.
In the last two years, several other Frisch’s locations have closed in the Miami Valley including 1231 N. Fairfield Road in Beavercreek and 4830 S. Dixie Drive in Moraine.
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