Dee and Larry Higby’s love story began at Disneyland
A locked turnstile at Disneyland proved fortuitous for Larry Higby and Dee Bramblett. As it turned out, the turnstile was purposefully locked by Higby who wanted to meet the pretty Disneyland tour guide as she was guiding her tour through the Jungle Cruise ride, where he was an operator.
Higby remembers saying, “Hi, my name is Larry,” to which Dee replied, “So?” Not exactly a promising start, but Higby didn’t give up and finally got her to go out on a date.
“And, that was it for me,” Larry remembers. “I knew right away Dee was the one.”
It took Dee a little longer.
“Summer was coming, and there were all these cute guys in the Park,” she says, “but mid-way through the summer, I started to figure out he was the one.”
The year was 1965, and by fall, Dee was wearing a Sigma Nu pin Larry gave her from his UCLA fraternity. By the next fall, they were engaged, and in 1967, Larry proposed at the seaside gazebo at Victor Hugo Inn (now Las Brisas) in Laguna Beach. They were married at Anaheim First Presbyterian Church on July 1, 1967, two weeks after Larry graduated from UCLA with a degree in political science.
They might never have met if Dee’s family hadn’t moved to California when her father retired as a U.S. Navy officer. Born in Spokane, Washington, Dee and her two siblings grew up living all over the world, due to their father’s assignments – Philippines, Naples, Italy, Hawaii, and more.
“We moved every two or three years,” Dee says. “I finally got to put down roots in Pensacola, Florida, where I attended high school and one year of junior college before we moved to California.”
Too late to register for college that year, Dee got a job at Disneyland, first as a tour guide and then as a VIP hostess, escorting the likes of James Garner, Debbie Reynolds, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Greer Garson.
Larry, born in Pomona, California, never knew his father. Lawrence B. Mead II died during World War II as a fighter pilot on the USS Enterprise in the South Pacific. His mother married Don Higby three years later. Larry attended Ganesha High School in Pomona, playing football and basketball and serving as student body vice president, later repeating the honor at UCLA.
Following the wedding, the couple lived in Inglewood, where upon graduation Larry received a job offer to work as assistant to H.R. Haldeman, who was West Coast VP for the prominent J. Walter Thompson advertising agency. Larry had become acquainted with Haldeman at UCLA, where he was on the Board of Regents and Alumni Association President.
While working, Larry completed his first year in the UCLA Graduate School of Business when he received an offer he couldn’t refuse. Haldeman was leaving for New York City to run Presidential candidate Richard Nixon’s campaign and asked Larry to be his aide. Moving to New York in June 1968, Dee stayed behind and when Nixon won the presidency, moved to Washington D.C. to be with Larry, as he was named administrative assistant to Nixon’s White House Chief of Staff, H. R. Haldeman.
Earlier attending college in California, Dee ultimately graduated from George Washington University in June, 1970, with a degree in psychology and three-months pregnant with Jennifer, who was born January, 1971.
Moving up the ladder, Larry was named Deputy Assistant to the President of the United States and later to Assistant to the Deputy Director, Office of Management and Budget.
“I had the dream job,” he says. “I traveled everywhere with the President – on the famous China trip and to Russia for the Salt Talks to start limiting nuclear weapons with Soviet Union General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev.
“The President was very generous to offer Camp David for wives and families when we traveled,” Larry says. “Our daughter Jennifer flew on Air Force One and spent many nights at Camp David. I would get home late at night, and Dee would have dinner waiting.”
Dee adds, “I trained Jennifer to sleep late in the morning so she could stay up later to see her father.”
Everything changed in 1973, with Nixon leaving the White House due to the Watergate scandal, when Larry began working at Pepsico, Inc. A top-notch executive in sales and marketing, the family eventually ended up in Irvine with Taco Bell (which Pepsico acquired). More impressive credentials followed at Caremark, Times Mirror Cable Television and Times Mirror Company as LA Times VP and President of the OC Division. Then came a stint in Costa Mesa at Unocal Corporation as Group VP and President of its 76 Products Company. Larry’s final 11-year run was President/CEO at Apria Healthcare Group.
It was during these years that son Robbin Lawrence Higby (1975) and twins boys Ryan and Christopher Higby (1979) were born. Home was in Lemon Heights, with the children attending Tustin schools.
During their early years, Dee was a class mom and because the boys were into baseball and football, Dee was Little League scorekeeper and Larry was president of the Booster Club. He and the late Larry Sanders founded the Foothill High School Education Foundation to raise money for school items.
With the final child leaving for college in 1998, the Higbys moved to Newport Beach. Even before Larry retired in 2008, both of them were giving their time to charitable causes.
Larry joined the Orange County Music Center Board (now Segerstrom Center for the Arts) in 1992, later serving as chairman 2011-2015, and when he was asked to serve on South Coast Repertory’s board in 1992 and said no, Dee was asked, later serving as president 1998-2000.
“It was a much better choice,” Larry says, smiling.
The duo’s nonprofit involvements go on and on. They have both served on an impressive list of nonprofit boards (some currently) with Dee chairing galas for SCR and Segerstrom Center more than once. Larry’s co-founding the New Majority 20 years ago is something he is proud of, and they were both honored in 2019 by The Guilds of Segerstrom Center for their years of support and encouragement. Larry received the Center’s Chairman’s Cup in 1996, and Dee was Angels of the Arts board president 2012-2014.
“We both have a particular fondness for the arts in Orange County and love it that we have been involved,” Dee explains, “in particular, to see the blossoming of Segerstrom Center into a world-class cultural center.”
As to their marriage, the joy is evident when you are with them.
“It really was love at first sight,” Larry says. “She’s been an amazing mother, who raised and nurtured our family almost single-handedly. And, she is a great combination of strength and empathy in one person.”
Dee says of Larry, “He’s been a great husband and father and is one of the smartest people I know. He always makes sure we have fun, and he has the most amazing ability to get something done. Nothing daunts him.”
So, it’s fair to say Dee is very happy Larry locked the Disney turnstile all those years ago.
“I remember the jolt of hitting that locked turnstile, but it turned out okay because it led to an exhilarating 52-year e-ticket ride!”