BOUNTIFUL—Every morning John and Carolyn Kunz walk a four mile path along Davis Blvd.– holding hands – they’ve been doing it since 1970. Along the way, John, 90 and Carolyn, 87 greet other walkers and wave at passing motorists. 

"We meet a lot of people who just need a pat on the back,” John said. “When we’re walking, I meet people and ask them how they're doing and they say, ‘I’m fine!’ I tell them to ask me how I’m doing and I say, ‘I’m as handsome as ever!’ And, to encourage them, I tell them to say, ‘I’m as beautiful as ever.’"

“We walk from 1700 South to 500 North,” said Carolyn. “As far as the road goes. Four miles is what we do. We’ve taken the car and measured it. When we get to the end we touch the fence. It’s not official if you don’t touch the fence.”

Carolyn said the best part is the people they meet. “It’s fun to meet somebody new and cheer them up along the way.”

The route takes them by three or four reservoirs. “We see wildlife and geese,” she said. “We watch their babies hatch and how they care for them. We also see deer quite often.”

It’s also a great view of Antelope Island and the Great Salt Lake, said Carolyn. “It’s nice to watch the clouds coming in or the sunrise and enjoy what God has provided.”

There are no cellphones, she said. “We just get out into nature with each other. As we walk along sometimes we eat grapes from bushes that the owners have given us permission to take.”

Carolyn and John have been married for 67 years and met at an ice cream shop in Logan. “I was there with my sister and cousin and we were playing the jukebox,” said Carolyn. “I was 16-years-old and these three college boys came in. John had just received his mission call and they came there to celebrate. We just happened to be there at the same time.”

The girls talked a bit with the boys and then left. “We didn’t even find out their names,” she said. “As we were walking home they drove by and opened their windows and yelled ‘there’s the girls we met.’ We started talking and then John and I started walking around the grounds of the high school. Later there was a dance at the (LDS) ward and he came to that and then we went to a movie.”

John left on his mission but the pair kept in touch. “We wrote to each other,” said Carolyn. “You learn a lot about people in a letter. He went to Canada. I’d grown up and was going to college when he got back. I was 18. We dated a couple of years and got married.”

They graduated from USU on the same day as a married couple, she said. “I was expecting our first baby. He was born in January and John was in the ROTC and was sent to Virginia a few months later. It was a wonderful education to live there.”

John took an early retirement at 55 and the couple started serving missions for their church. “We were working at the Salt Lake Temple before he retired and helped raise money for a new chapel,” said Carolyn. “The building is still there. We served temple missions in Sydney, Australia, Johannesburg, South Africa, New Zealand and Manilla in the Philippines.”

They moved to Bountiful in 1967 and have lived there ever since. “The house prices have certainly changed,” said Carolyn.

John and Carolyn attribute their lasting relationship to prayer and eating together as a family. “You need to sit down together for a meal,” said Carolyn. “We did things together from the time our kids were very young.”

“Our walks have kept us healthy,” said John. “It keeps the brain going, the heart, lungs and the emotional heart. We hold hands as we walk and communicate that way.” λ