St. George Is No. 1 in Marriage Marathon

Published April 17, 1986. Some of you will recall during the past few weeks how we have been noting couples in the state of Utah who have been married 60 years or more. I now have a list of more than 50 couples so identified. Gloria Patterson wrote from Price, Utah, and indicated there were six couples living in her LDS ward who have been married 60 years or more. As a result, we declared Price as the Marriage Marathon Capital of Utah until someone else claimed the title.

Then Lee Wayne Wood recently wrote from St. George and noted they have nine couples in the St. George Fourth Ward who have been married 60 years or more this year. They are:

Samuel and Temperance Davis, married June 7, 1916 (69 years)

John and Mary Sherratt, married Dec. 22, 1919 (66 years)

Willard and Arvilla Day, married Feb. 14, 1921 (65 years)

George and Ada Shakespear, married May 30, 1923 (62 years)

Edward and Gladys Lambson, married July 23, 1923 (62 years)

BL and Floy Harris, married May 6, 1924 (61 years)

Truman and Hester Rollins, married Dec. 23, 1924 (61 years)

Irvin and Vera Milne, married Dec. 28, 1925 (60 years)

Frank and Linda Church, married June 26, 1926 (59 years)

After receiving Lee’s letter, St. George is now declared as the official Marriage Marathon Capitol of Utah. And St. George will hold the title until claimed by someone else. The race is still on.

Lee also indicated something else interesting in his letter. He states, “While there is quiet an influx of retired people into St. George, only one of the couples listed has come to our area during the past two years.” He then notes that five of the nine couples have lived in St. George 20 years or more. Irvin and Vera Milne have lived in the same home for over 40 years.

(That is particularly interesting to me. During our 21 years of marriage, Susan and I have started out in Utah (1965-68), moved to Florida (1068-71), then to Illinois (1971-74), then to Wisconsin (1974-77), and finally back to Utah (1977-present). During that time we have lived in 12 different apartments or houses. Can anyone beat that record? Graduate students and university professors are supposedly second only to military personnel when it comes to transfers and mobility.)

Since spring has arrived, all the marathons in the area are getting underway. The idea occurred to me that we ought to have an official Utah Marriage Marathon Convention sometime in the future. We could bring together all the couples in our state who have been married 60 years or more. We could give some special recognition for those who have been married the longest in Utah.

But even more important, we could do something for those who have been married just a short time. Like 20 or 30 years. By such a convention we could visually convey that marriage is, indeed, a lifelong undertaking. In addition, we could suggest that married couples today might anticipate 50, 60, and even 70 years of married life together. With such a vision in mind, we will better understand the biblical admonition, “Let us run with patience the first race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).

Should we have a Utah Marriage Marathon Convention? We will need some sponsors and a place to meet. Perhaps we could even have our own T-shirts and prizes. Any volunteers or additional ideas?