The Charbonneau Villager Newspaper 2019 February Villager Newspaper | Page 6

6 THE CHARBONNEAU VILLAGER
February 2019
With love in their hearts
Charbonneau couple’s key to
lasting marriage is forging
friendship through crisis
By CLARA HOWELL, SPECIAL WRITER, PAMPLIN
MEDIA GROUP
T
he key to Cherie and Dave San-
ville’s 53-year marriage is simple
yet powerful: be best friends.
And though the couple claims
their relationship’s initial success
was due to the “luck of the draw” and
their willingness to work at having a
lasting marriage, the Sanvilles said
crisis is what really drew them
together. Immediately after their
marriage, Cherie received a cancer
diagnosis. Then Dave and Cherie’s
only daughter died suddenly at age 26
and they were thrust into raising their
granddaughter.
The couple, who’s lived in
Charbonneau since 2001, credits their
support for each other and their
willingness to stay together through
tough times for keeping it together. On
March 20, the couple will be
celebrating their 54th anniversary and
they couldn’t be more in love.
“(Cherie’s) the most warm and
caring human being I’ve ever met,”
Dave said, causing his wife’s eyes to
fill with tears.
“I’m a mush ball,” Cherie replied.
“He is the kindest human being on the
planet and anybody who knows him
will tell you that. He doesn’t have a
bad word for anyone, unlike me.”
Born and raised in Portland, the
Sanvilles met on a blind date back in
1963. Both were attending separate
colleges — Dave was at a junior
college in Boise and Cherie attended
Oregon State University — so it wasn’t
until the following summer that the
couple really hit it off.
Dave had received his associate’s
degree and moved home to complete
his bachelor’s in health and physical
education, and eventually his master’s
degree in education from Portland
State University (PSU). Cherie moved
PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP PHOTO: JON HOUSE
Cherie and Dave Sanville have been best friends for more than 50 years, and that has helped their marriage
stay strong even through tragedy.
Dave added. “She was a keeper.”
back to Portland and received her
But four months after the couple
bachelor’s degree in sociology.
wed, Cherie was hospitalized with
As Cherie remembers it, Dave was
thyroid cancer. Fortunately, two
very quiet and shy — a type she
surgeries later, the cancer was cured.
usually stayed away from — but said
“After that
she had to keep dating
experience was over,
him to crack his shell.
it was like we’d been
“I did have to find
“I feel badly for people
married for five years
out if he really did
who haven’t experienced
because it was such a
have anything to say
family life because it
big deal,” Cherie said.
so I had to keep going
offers a lot of great
Over the years,
out with him to try to
things and a lot of hard
Dave and Cherie had
find out,” she said.
things, but those all make four children who
“I’m glad we figured
you who you are.”
gave them eight
out I had something to
— Cherie Sanville
grandchildren. Dave
say,” Dave replied.
worked as a health
The two were
and physical
engaged the following
education teacher at Madison High
December and married in March.
School, where he also coached football,
“We walked down the aisle and we
wrestling — his main sport in high
were strangers,” Cherie said with a
school — and track. Dave then became
laugh. “That’s what you did in those
a physical education teacher and head
days. I mean it was time for me; I was
wrestling coach at Warner Pacific
tired of waiting. I mean, I was 21 years
College.
old.”
Though Cherie was a stay-at-home
“I didn’t want to let her get away,”
mother for many years, she also
worked as a human resource manager
and a temp aide, along with other
various part-time jobs.
The Sanvilles lived in Bend for 10
years between the ‘70s and ‘80s before
moving to West Linn for 17 years and
then Charbonneau in 2001.
Dave and Cherie didn’t care for
Bend because of its small size at the
time.
“Back then you couldn’t get on your
computer and order stuff and have it
here in two days; it was really small; it
was very cold and I missed the flowers
and the trees and the seasons,” Cherie
said. “We were anxious to get back
here.”
And then in 2001, their daughter’s
death turned their world upside down.
The Sanvilles’ daughter and her
husband had just returned from Los
Angeles, where her husband was
playing arena football.
“They came in town and Jillian (the
Sanvilles’ granddaughter) was in a car
seat. We drove them to their house;
she (their daughter) hopped out of the
car. She was really excited to be home
and went up, opened the garage door
and Cherie hopped out and they were
walking and she said ‘I feel
lightheaded, Mom, can you take
Jillian?” Dave said.
“She handed me the little baby
carrier and she went down,” Cherie
added.
Jillian Greene, now a senior at
Wilsonville High School, was only two
months old when her mother died.
The Sanvilles helped raise their
granddaughter and when Jillian
turned 12, they took her in full-time.
“She’s an outstanding one too. She’s
a 4.0 student and a really good
athlete,” Dave said. “She’s been
recruited for track at several schools.”
“She’s risen above so much in her
own life and still just excels,” Cherie
added. “I think she has an inner light.”
Jillian credits her grandparents for
keeping her afloat.
“They helped me grow and mature
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