Southern Utah couple celebrates 50th wedding anniversary

Friday, Dec. 19, 2014

BCEDAR CITY — Deacon Denny Davies and his wife, Gail, are known as a couple who support each other. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on the Feast of Christ the King; Deacon Davies serves at Christ the King Parish in Cedar City.

“Their anniversary was an important testimony and witness for our people, confirming for the many good couples here at the parish who have been married for 50 years or longer, who also rejoice in the very good marriage they’ve had and the good family they have,” said Monsignor Robert Bussen, pastor. “It was good for our young people to see a couple who have really given themselves to each other completely and lived happily as a result. They ennoble us in the way that they have aged gracefully together; they are a very holy couple.” 

Msgr. Bussen met the Davies when he was pastor at Saint Thomas Aquinas Parish in Hyde Park. “It’s a privilege for me to now be serving with them here at Christ the King,” he said.  “For a number of years Deacon Davies also was the administrator for the people at Saint Christopher in Kanab. Deacon Denny has been, through the years, a tireless worker for the Church.”

On the couple’s 10th wedding anniversary they made a Marriage Encounter weekend that “had a tremendous impact on us,” Deacon Davies said. “We both remember the talk called ‘Open and Apostolic,’ which meant for us to be witnesses to Christ to all that we meet in our vocation as husband and wife.” 

While living in Brigham City and serving as president of the parish council at St. Thomas Aquinas, Deacon Denny prepared a talk based on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop’s 1980 pastoral statement, “Called and Gifted,” which emphasized the responsibility of lay people getting involved without being asked, he said. Fifteen years later he was assigned to Zions National Park and attended Mass at St. George Parish, and Benedictine Sister Jeremia Januschka introduced him to the diaconate program; he was ordained in 2000.

The Davies met through a mutual friend while attending New Mexico State University. Deacon Davies was president of the Newman Club and Gail was doing lay apostolate work at Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Las Cruces. Their relationship didn’t blossom immediately; at the time Deacon Davies was a seminarian. He finished two more years at the Franciscan Seminary in Michigan before he decided to leave the seminary and complete his degree at New Mexico State and become engaged to Gail. They were married on Nov. 21, 1964.

In 1965, Deacon Davies was hired by the National Park Service and began a 37-year career; they moved 11 times from California to Alabama to New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona spending most of their time in the Four Corners area. They have four children and six grandchildren.

Deacon Davies was raised in Santa Fe, N.M.; Gail was raised in Boston, Mass., but acclimated to her new lifestyle of “living in some pretty remote locations,” said Deacon Davies. “Mass attendance was always important to us, and for several of those assignments, we drove between 30 and 40 miles one way in order to attend Mass.”

Their second child, Eve Davies, remembers the family never missing Mass, she said, adding, “it was a part of what we did as a family.” 

Her parents taught the importance of kindness, Eve Davies said. “My parents are both kind with each other and with people around them. They worked side by side for everything that they have; my father always worked and my mother typically stayed at home, but they had a clear sense of togetherness; we did things as family.” 

Recalling living in park housing in Dinosaur, Colo., Eve Davies remembers watching summertime thunder-storms as a form of family entertainment. “My dad would open the garage door and set out the lawn chairs and my mom would make popcorn,” she said. “We would also camp on the weekends, find our own Christmas trees in the mountains or desert, wherever we were, and that was a lot of joy and fun for all of us. My folks always made us feel like we had a very adventuresome life. We took a lot of car trips but our travels were amazing. I am grateful for the example they have given us.”

Deacon Denny’s parents had an influence on them, he said. “I am one of nine children and my parents were never critical or negative. The priests we’ve worked with and Sr. Jeremiah have all been role models for us.”