Romance and flowers win the day in Washington, D.C.
Kathleen and Robert Barnes met on a rainy winter evening in Washington, D.C., where Kathleen was attending the University of Maryland and Robert was working on Capitol Hill as a press secretary.
At the time, Kathleen was going out with Robert’s best friend from grade school, but when Robert met her that evening he knew she was the one.
“She was just so beautiful, and she was really, really smart… that’s pretty much catnip to me. I had my heart set,” Robert tells us.
He promptly set out to displace his old chum and tennis partner in Kathleen’s affection. After three months of “wheedling and wooing” — with lots of cards and flowers — Kathleen finally agreed to go out with him.
When Robert left for law school in Philadelphia that fall, Kathleen, an art history and English major, followed and worked as a gallerist at the Institute of Contemporary Art before they came to Los Angeles.
“When we laid eyes on Larchmont it felt like something out of Westchester, and we stayed.”
Kathleen is a native of Westchester, NY, and “[Larchmont is] like Westchester except with better weather,” says Robert.
“We loved it here… we loved the vibrancy” as the city was preparing for the 1984 Olympics. “It was just a wonderful time to be in Los Angeles, and we never looked back.”
The couple has lived in Larchmont Village and Windsor Square since 1982, the same year they were married.
They remain art “enthusiasts,” as Kathleen went on to receive an MBA at UCLA and has worked for many years at Wells Capital Management. Robert is a real estate lawyer with Norton Rose Fulbright.
The couple has two children — Claire and Ethan — and they all visit family back east on the holidays and summers, a tradition they continue to this day.
As for Robert’s grade school friend?
No hard feelings, says Robert. “We’re dear friends… and tennis partners.”
Category: People
