50 Years Later, Biola Couple Looks Back on Their Biola Wedding
Robert and Marla Bushyeager were the first of many couples to marry on Biola’s new campus.
Fifty years ago, Biola sweethearts Robert and Marla Bushyeager were the first couple to marry on Biola’s La Mirada campus. Their wedding was the first of many at Biola University’s campus after the school moved from downtown Los Angeles in 1959.
When Robert Bushyeager (’61) moved to Los Angeles from Arizona to attend school at the downtown campus of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, he knew he had to get a job. One day as he was perusing books at the old Biola Book Room, a cute, personable, 19-year-old blonde employee caught his eye.
Robert decided to get a job in the store’s shipping department.
“Marla was working upstairs selling books, and I was down in shipping, and I couldn’t figure out why she kept bringing books down while I was working,” remembers Robert.
Eventually Robert asked her out, and the two went on their first date to a skating party at the Moonlight Rollerway in Pasadena. That was April 1957. By Valentine’s Day of the next year, the couple was engaged, and on Jan. 24, 1959, they were married at the just-opened Sutherland Hall on Biola’s new La Mirada campus.
It was the first of hundreds of weddings that would be performed on the La Mirada campus. The Bushyeagers’ ceremony, officiated by Dr. Sam Sutherland himself, took place nine months before the first classes were even offered. At that time, there were only a handful of buildings completed.
Fifty years is a long time, but Robert and Marla remember fondly their time at both the downtown and La Mirada campuses. Back then, notes Robert, the cost of attending Biola — including room and board at the downtown towers — was $375 a semester. You could still ride the “Red Car” streetcars from Los Angeles to Long Beach, or have an all-you-can-eat dinner at the famous Clifton’s Cafeteria for $1. These were the experiences of Biola students in the late 50s — and for the Bushyeagers it was the backdrop to the beginning of a lifelong romance.
After getting married and leaving Biola, the Bushyeagers settled in nearby Whittier, had two children and became active in East Whittier Baptist Church. Robert worked for Northrop Grumman and Marla taught at Escalona Elementary School in La Mirada. Both are now retired, living in Yucaipa, Calif., and enjoying their six grandchildren.
Today, their Biola legacy continues. Their son Mark graduated from Biola in 1984, and his son Matthew is thinking about attending Biola as a freshman in the fall.
Like many couples who first met at Biola, Robert and Marla Bushyeager have deep affection for the school.
“I love Biola,” said Robert, who attended the first annual alumni Homecoming Weekend this February with Marla (pictured above). “And I love my wife — you know, I’ve never seen her mad. It’s been a very good marriage, and we’ve been very blessed.”
Written by Jason Newell, Biola Magazine Editor.
