“The Price Is Right” anchor Bob Barker is 99 years old and still lives in the same house he and his late wife resided in. He was recently seen cleaning his wife’s grave and placing white flowers on it. PHOTO

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On December 12, famous American TV personality Bob Barker, best known as the affable host of “The Price Is Right,” was born in Darrington, Washington. Barker, 99, moved to Springfield in 1941 and attended Drury College before enrolling in the Navy and becoming a test pilot. Following the end of WWII, he went to school and obtained a job working at a local radio station while finishing his education.

Barker met his late wife, Dorothy Jo Gideon, while they were both in high school at Central High. Barker was a basketball player, and Gideon was a cheerleader at the time. Barker talks in his biography about how he couldn’t wait to make Gideon his wife from the time they met.

The lovebirds spent their first date at the Shrine Mosque in Springfield, where they listened to Ella Fitzgerald’s “A-Tisket, A-Tasket.” When Barker had to leave Springfield, Missouri, to travel with his basketball team to Lebanon, Missouri, for their regional tournament, he described how he would phone Gideon on a regular basis. During their time apart, the couple would also regularly write to each other.

The letters’ contents would reflect the young couple’s wish to marry. However, Barker explains in his book that they had no clear plans or thought-out specifics for a wedding. Gideon and Barker eventually traveled to Ozark, Missouri, and obtained a marriage certificate, but they did not marry until Barker entered the Navy.

Barker opted to have his headstone constructed before his death as another way to memorialize his long-standing dedication to his late wife.

Barker and Gideon relocated to DeLand, Florida, due to Barker’s new assignment. During their stay in Florida, he worked as a staff announcer and news editor for WWPG. After a year, the couple relocated to California, where Barker found work as a radio salesperson. Barker’s meteoric rise began when an executive at an appliance company discovered his abilities.

If Barker agreed to be the emcee, the executive promised to finance his own program. Soon after, the “Bob Barker Show” went live on several California radio stations, with Gideon, Barker’s biggest fan, serving as announcer and producer.

Gideon was a tower of support and strength to Barker throughout his career, and he regarded her as one of the most significant individuals in his life in his memoir:

“She was determined. She was also bright, loyal, and loving.” Dorothy Jo was always willing to assist me in any way she could.”

Barker endured the heartbreaking loss of his real love, Gideon, when he died at the age of 57 in 1981. The tragedy struck just as Barker was establishing himself as a Hollywood star and six months after she was diagnosed with lung cancer. Gideon and she had been inseparable since they married when she was 20 and he was 21.

Barker indicated no desire to replace the love of his life when asked about remarrying. In a 2009 interview, the game show presenter revealed:

“I never had any desire to remarry.” She had been my wife.”

Nowadays, the still-jovial and energetic presenter spends his days enjoying his retirement in the same house where he and the late Gideon resided for 36 years. He spoke about his choice to retire, displayed his World War II room, mementos, and images of his loving late wife, and related anecdotes about his exciting life in the past while recording an interview in his house. He also revealed:

“I am a complete retirement success.” I believe it’s because I did it at the appropriate moment, neither too soon nor too late. I’ve never regretted it; when people ask me what I miss most about “The Price Is Right,” I always say, ‘It’s the money.'”

Barker is currently focusing his energies on fighting for animal rights and protection programs, a subject he has been working on for years. Last year, footage of his historic home in Outpost Estates, nestled in the foothills of Outpost Drive, went viral on YouTube.

The $2.3 million white home with a brick-layered roof has 5,000 square feet of space and four bedrooms. The city of Los Angeles certified the Spanish Colonial Revival-style house as a historic-cultural monument after Barker requested it in March 2000. Barker once said about his home:

“From the moment my wife, Dorothy Jo, and I moved in, we knew the house was truly special.”

Barker created the nostalgic custom of holding 20-minute vigils at her burial in Los Angeles’ Forest Lawn Memorial Park after losing his girlfriend.

In 2017, he visited his wife’s grave to commemorate the 36th anniversary of her death. Barker was spotted kneeling next to her gravestone, holding a bunch of white flowers. He was also photographed polishing Gideon’s tombstone before placing the flowers.

Barker opted to have his headstone constructed before his death as another way to memorialize his long-standing dedication to his late wife. On the left side, his tombstone is immediately next to Gideon’s.

Barker’s headstone has his complete name as well as his birth year (1923). For obvious reasons, the date of his death is now blank.

Barker stays in his beautiful house, which is packed with decades-long memories of his time with his late wife, while he continues to live out his days in retirement and focus on his work with animal protection causes.

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