This newspaper article is from August 5, 1979, less than two weeks before Vivian Vance died. I assume this is the last time she saw her, though the events described here differ from what I've read otherwise. I have long thought that Lucy drove up to San Francisco with Mary Wickes for that final visit. But according to this article, Lucy went with her husband, Gary Morton, and there is no mention of Mary Wickes. Is it possible she made a couple final visits?

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=qMMPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=84wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7053,684683&dq=vivian+vance&hl=en

It is interesting to note that they list Vivian's age as 75.

It is interesting to note that they list Vivian's age as 75.

I noticed that, too. It's odd because most sources were saying she was either 66 or 67 at the time, several years younger than her actual age. This one was making her five years older. It's the only time I've ever seen a source maker her older than her actual age.

It is widely accepted that her year of birth was 1909 making her 70 at the time. Although for years, her date of birth was reported as 1912. The mystery of Vivian's real age persists.....

It is widely accepted that her year of birth was 1909 making her 70 at the time. Although for years, her date of birth was reported as 1912. The mystery of Vivian's real age persists.....

There is no mystery about her age. It has been confirmed by a number of people, including myself. I visited the National Archives in Washington, DC about 14 or 15 years ago and found her listed in the January 1910 census as an infant, meaning she had to have been born in 1909. And obviously, she couldn't have been in the 1910 census if she hadn't been born yet. So there's no mystery, just misinformation that's been passed on for years. I'm not sure of the original source of this misinformation, but I seem to recall this 1912 DOB appeared in Bart Andrews' 1976 book about I Love Lucy, and everyone who wrote about the series after that point seemed to think everything in the book was indisputable fact, even though it turns out a number of things were incorrect in it, and would constantly reprint information taken from that book. So the misinformation spread.

But in Bart Andrews' defense on this particular issue, I should point out that national census records are not open to the public until after 70 years. So when he wrote his book in the 1970s, Bart Andrews would not have had access to the 1910 census; the latest census data he could have accessed at that time was the 1900 census, which would have been no help in confirming Vivian Vance's date of birth. Of course, I supposed he could have simply asked Ms. Vance, but that would have violated the "never ask a woman her age" rule, and I'm sure he was too much of a gentleman to do that.