Utah? Is it the Marriage Marathon Capital of the U.S.?


Published March 13, 1986. We went out to eat with some family members recently. My younger sister, Karen Schneider of Salt Lake City, was celebrating her birthday. Karen is a baby boomer and, as such, is used to noting times of transition. (I’ll hear about that comment!)

While we were eating, her husband Lance mentioned something he had recently heard on the radio. Paul Harvey, he said, had noted on his syndicated radio program that there were five couples in Iowa that had been married 70 years or more. Paul commended the couples for their long-term commitment to marriage. And he should have. It is something worth reporting on a national radio program.

I mentioned to those at the dinner my two recent columns in the Desert News on Utah’s Marriage Marathoners and the great interest they had generated. I also stated that Utah probably had more couples than Iowa who had been married for 70 years or more.

That evening I went home and check my records, And I was right. We have at least nine:

Clarence and Dainy Nielson, Oak City, 76 years
Henry and Hazel Robinson, Farmington, 76 years
Burt and Elmea Flora, Salt Lake City, 72 years
Ren and Evelyn Hansen, Salt Lake City, 71 years
Arthur and Rose Barlocker, St. George, 71 years
Ralph and Ruth Anderson, Springville, 71 years
Louis and Mary Mahoney, Heber City, 70 years
Joseph and Erma Young, Orem, 70 years
Roy and Elva Fausett, Price, 70 years

And there could be even more than nine. These are the ones that we know of thus far. What’s more, we have nearly 50 couples who have been married 60 years or more. If anyone knows Paul Harvey’s business address, I think he should receive this information. It may be that Utah is the Marriage Marathon Capital of the United States!

That is an interesting claim. And if we are, we ought to make it known. It simply verifies what I, and many others, have believed for some time. Utah is a great state for stable marriages and family life.

I’ll have to admit I have an ax to grind. If you haven’t heard, and I don’t know how many could miss it, the media in this state constantly report that Utah’s divorce rate is higher than the national average. Everywhere I go, both in the state and out, I am asked about this. How could our state have such a high divorce rate when we place great emphasis on marriage and family life?

This is what I tell people. The statistics used in this matter report the national divorce rate is about 5. Divorces per 1,000 population. Utah’s divorce rate is something like 5.3 per 1,000 population. And for that three-tenths of one percent, we take a terrible beating. We are simply not that bad.

What’s more.  As many of us believe, we are much better in this regard than some would suppose. Here are two trends many people do not know: (1) divorce rates increase in the United States as you move from East to West. (2) Utah has the lowest divorce rate when compared to our nine neighboring states.

Is Utah the Marriage Marathon Capital of the United States? I would be willing to bet if we determined, for instance, the number of those who have celebrated a golden wedding anniversary (50 years or more of marriage) and compared it to the total number of married couples in our state, the ratio would be the highest in the nation. It would be an interesting story.



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