The research associate in the Family Studies Center at Brigham Young University and the chair of The Governor's Commission on Marriage in Utah is helping the commission find couples who have been married for 70 years or more. If you know of any couple in Utah married 70 years or more, please contact Brent Barlow at 1230 SFLC, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602. Also indicate the name and phone number of the person providing the information if it is other than the couple.
Couples married for seventy years or more are rare.
Barlow estimates there are between 50 and 100 couples who have been married for at least 70 years in Utah. So far the commission has been able to locate about 20 of these couples. One of them has been married 76 years and may currently hold the record for the longest married couple in Utah. Barlow states that only five percent of couples in the United States stay married and live long enough to celebrate a fiftieth wedding anniversary. Of an estimated 420,000 married couples in Utah, that would mean about 21,000 have celebrated a golden wedding anniversary.