“Right away she was the most popular Mouseketeer. All the Mouseketeers loved her. All the boys loved her. She was obviously the most charismatic without trying. She was just automatically so attractive and charming and sweet.” Johnny Crawford.
“This lady is very special in everyone’s lives. Was and is the kind of person I think I want my kids to be. Loving, caring, wanting to give more of herself than to take. They broke the mold when Annette was born.” Tommy Cole
“Everyone who knew Annette loved and respected her. She was one of the loveliest people I’ve ever known, and was always so kind to everyone. She was also the consummate professional and had such great loyalty to my father. Annette will always be very special to me and Ron.” Diane Disney Miller, (Daughter of Walt Disney)
“Annette was and always will be a cherished member of the Disney family, synonymous with the word Mouseketeer, and a true Disney Legend. She will forever hold a place in our hearts as one of Walt Disney’s brightest stars, delighting an entire generation of baby boomers with her jubilant personality and endless talent. Annette was well known for being as beautiful inside as she was on the outside, and she faced her physical challenges with dignity, bravery and grace. All of us at Disney join with family, friends, and fans around the world in celebrating her extraordinary life.” Bob Iger
“Who’s the little lady who’s as dainty as a dream? Who’s the one you can’t forget? I’ll give you just three guesses. Annette, Annette, Annette!”
Vivian was a farm girl near Creston. Nonie a farm girl near Yale. Vivian was an indoor girl, spending hours “teaching my dolls,” practice for her dream of becoming a teacher. Nonie was an outside girl, helping on the farm and playing basketball, such a rough-and-tumble guard that she once broke a rib during a game.
Neither considered romance much back then. Vivian caught the interest of a boy once who became a friend but she cut that short by telling a schoolmate: “I wouldn’t go with him to a dogfight.”
Then Nonie saw Vivian from afar one day, and it changed everything. Both were attending Iowa State Teachers College (now known as the University of Northern Iowa) in 1942.
“I could tell you exactly what she had on,” Nonie said. “A gray dress with black velvet trim and big pearl buttons.”
That was it. They never spoke.
But after Nonie dropped out of school and returned to Yale to work, she heard the school in town needed a new teacher. “I prayed that night that she would come to Yale,” Nonie said.
By chance, Vivian saw the job there and got it. She soon met Nonie, who asked her to a movie. Nonie had to work that night but told Vivian to go to the show, and she would join her later.
“She was already bossing me around,” teased Vivian, the soft-spoken one in the relationship. “But I had a new friend.”
They hit it off.
“What then?” they were asked.
Silence.
“This is difficult for us to talk about,” Vivian said.
“No one knew what was happening,” Nonie said. “We didn’t even know it was anything special. I was just drawn to her. That’s all.”
“The hand of God was there,” Vivian added. “Suddenly, we were in love.”