If you scroll up to the top of this page, you will be looking at two photographs taken by Toni Frisell. Between the two, I prefer Weeki Wachee, Florida (1947).

I found a June 2014 article about the hot Everglades Island property market. It included the statement "Thursday’s sale comes on the heels of another Everglades Island property sold in May by Elkins and Hiatt — 619 Island Drive, which Ray and Kim Celedinas bought from the estate of the late Lucille P. Balcom for a recorded $6.55 million." Lucille Miriam Parsons Balcom died at the age of 100 in August 2013 on Fishers Island, Suffolk County, New York. The house at 619 Island Drive in Florida is not the house in the 1954 photograph. I looked around and could not find the house in the photograph.

[The Balcoms lived at "Windsong," the Vanderbilt abode on Pelican Lane. - Dave]

Thanks, Dave. I'm glad this columned beauty was not replaced by one of the many, many Italian villas I saw while looking for Windsong. I looked around Windsong, and saw this interesting No Parking Anytime sign. Remember lawbreakers, failure to read the sign is no excuse.

Reading the obituary, this couple having the finest skin care routine would still be a hard match against their enviable, highly athletic outdoor lifestyle on the water in the intensely sunny south, and the thinner atmosphere of high altitudes.

Lulu lived to be almost 101! Born in 1912, and died in 2013.

https://fishersisland.net/2013/08/memoriam-lucille-parsons-balcom/

If Ron looked a little weather-beaten in 1954, it could have been because he had spent the war fighting on small ships in the Solomon Islands and the North Atlantic. (His war was undoubtedly more eventful and dangerous than radio host Art Linkletter's.) To me he looks like a tough and salty veteran who didn't use family wealth to duck serving. Hard to begrudge him his Thunderbird and his athletic wife. Robert Mitchum could have played him.

Once you sail through Great Depression and survive WWII, everything else is easy. Both were outdoorsy types, thus bit "aged".

This reminds me of the current practice on social media where 'influencers' post photos that can be moused over to identify the fashion brand of every piece of clothing they are wearing.

Paint code R - Torch Red (70540)

Initially, just three colors were offered on the 1955 Thunderbird: Raven Black, Torch Red, and Thunderbird Blue. Snowshoe White and Goldenrod Yellow were added to the stock color palette later.

So Ronnie is only 44 in this photo and Lulu 42? I must say, they look far more worn-out for that young. Hard living?

Maybe this is indeed the same Ronald Bush Balcom, but my instincts tell me that the guy depicted here is much older than 44, in spite of the many times aforementioned apparent accelerated aging of this generation compared to the current one. Heck, I was still occasionally getting carded at 44. This guy looks every bit of 70.

[Did you not look at the photos? Read the obituary? - Dave]

That looks like Jane Hathaway and Art Linkletter. Maybe Jed or Granny introduced them to each other.

Ronald Bush Balcom and Lucille Parsons Vanderbilt Balcom.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/183783069/ronald-bush-balcom