Paige Peterson grew close to Vance after the actress rented her mother’s home in Belvedere, and speaks to PEOPLE about “the magic” that took place when she and Lucille Ball were on screen together

It’s been 46 years since Vivian Vance died of bone cancer at age 70 — and her former neighbor is remembering the late actress’ lasting friendship with her co-star Lucille Ball.

Ball and Vance created comedy magic in the legendary ’50s sitcom I Love Lucy, with Ball as Lucy Ricardo and Vance playing her sidekick Ethel Mertz.

Paige Peterson grew close to Vance after the actress rented her mother’s home in Belvedere, and wrote about Ball and Vance in her 2020 book, Growing Up Belvedere-Tiburon.

Speaking to ENTERT in a recent interview, Peterson recounted how Vance and Ball were “extraordinary” together on the small screen.

“I think what people forget about her is that she was a big Broadway star [before I Love Lucy],” Peterson says. “And she was 39 years old when Desi [Arnaz] found her in a play … they went to see her in Santa Barbara in a play. And Desi understood how talented she was, and he needed somebody to set up Lucy for the joke. They were a perfect combination. They were extraordinary together.”

Acting as the frumpy neighbor to Lucy’s lead, Peterson adds, didn’t bother Vance one bit.

“She was a professional actress; she understood that that was part of the character. I don’t think she took that personally at all. She understood that was what made the brilliance,” Peterson says.

What’s more is that Vance knew that playing “second fiddle,” Peterson adds, “was the magic of it all.”

“I think the two of them were absolutely equal on the screen,” she tells ENTERT. “There had to be somebody to set up the joke for Lucy — to get the laugh — and Viv knew exactly how to do that. Viv never felt like a second fiddle, not at all. She knew what she brought.”

She continues: “There was a really enormous amount of love and respect and admiration [between the two]… and she was a powerhouse in her own right.”

In August 1979, Ball came to Belvedere, Calif., to bid farewell to her friend and beloved costar, as Vance lay dying of bone cancer.

On that day in 1979, Peterson remembered in an earlier interview, “We had brought Viv down and she was lying on the couch in the living room. They ate lunch, and they talked and talked. Viv knew she was dying.” (The breast cancer she had been diagnosed with in 1973 had metastasized into bone cancer.)

Peterson, who was in an adjacent room in case Vance needed her, remembers seeing Ball as she left. “The pain on her face shook me to my core. She was in tears. She couldn’t speak.”

“I think Viv gave up after that,” Peterson added.

Vance died a few days later, on Aug. 17, at 70 years old.

Peterson grew close to Vance after the actress rented her mother’s home in Marin County, Calif., later acting alongside one another in the touring show, The Marriage Go Round. Vance was something of a mentor to her, Peterson tells PEOPLE.

“She had become a mother to me, and she loved ‘little Lucie’ [Lucie Arnaz, the daughter of Ball and her first husband, Desi Arnaz],” Peterson said of Vance. “Lucie and I were the daughters she never had.”

Of her final days, Peterson said Vance appeared content: “Viv was in the place she loved most. And that’s how she left the world.”