By Kevin V. Hunt
Blog #25
I KEVIN VON HUNT, am finding myself reflecting on a major life milestone at this moment. The occasion is my own 70th Birthday. Seventy? How is that possible? Where has that time gone? And of course, I still feel as if I am about age 35!
This writing comes on October 31, 2024, as I am celebrating my birthday. In the past, we have had a long-standing family tradition of staging wonderful and creative birthdays for the major milestones – generally the 5-year increments for family members. Seventy is a big thing and sadly, I will not be able to celebrate with a lot of fanfare with my family this year. So, I have decided to write a message to the family as I contemplate the historic moment pretty much alone without them (or you)
My wife, Lou, (Sister Hunt) and I are presently serving as site missionaries in the Illinois Historic Sites Mission – which includes mostly Nauvoo, Illinois. We have been serving for seven months and will be here yet another year.
Writing this, is actually something that I have wanted to do for quite some time – and that is a message to my posterity. I would very much like to write a personal message to each one of you who are numbered as my posterity – and maybe someday that will happen. That is a yeoman task, however, since the posterity of Lou and me now numbers 61 (or 63 with her and me). Wow! That is so amazing and wonderful. At the moment, the posterity includes 9 children, their spouses and 43 grandchildren. Wow! That is amazing and wonderful.
Lord Baden-Powell was the founder of the worldwide Boy Scout program. As he was getting older, he got into a reflective mood and wrote to the Scouts of the World: “If you have ever seen the play Peter Pan you will remember how the pirate chief was always making his dying speech because he was afraid that possibly when the time came for him to die he might not have time to get it off his chest. It is much the same with me, and so, although I am not at this moment dying, I shall be doing so one of these days and I want to send you a parting word of goodbye.”
Like Baden-Powell, I do not believe that I am now dying – nor do I plan to do so soon. Both of my grandfathers lived to age 83 and my parents both lived to age 90. One of my doctors at the Mayo Clinic is a Native American doctor. I think of him as one of the true Indian medicine men. When I shared with him, my family health history, he said (of my parents), “You will outlive both of them. … You will live to be 100!” And I believed him.
So, here is my letter written now to my posterity. (And I don’t promise that it will be my last!) I hope that all of you will share this with each member of your family. And it is my hope that each family member will see this letter as a personal letter sent to each of you. I have each of you in my mind as I write.
A little background: Believe it or not, I was born on Halloween. And it gets a bit better … My parents, (Russel Frank Hunt and Alta Alura Larsen) met on a blind date on Friday the 13th – and then I was born on Halloween. My folks were at a ward Halloween party in Ft. Collins, Colorado on that spooky night of Saturday, October 30, 1954. It was during the social gathering that I announced my pending arrival. Mom had to leave the party for the hospital to go have me, and I was born the following morning – on Halloween.
While celebrating my birthday was not always convenient through the years for those who wanted to celebrate it with me, I always was happy that my arrival day on earth came on that day. With or without celebrations, it has been a special day for me. It has been fun for me to celebrate on a day when much of the world around me was joyful, crazy, and celebrating.
I had a very happy childhood. After my birth, my parents moved (with me) to Cheyenne, Wyoming for a short time. It was there that my kid brother, Dean, was born. He got pneumonia soon after birth and the doctors said that “he will never survive Wyoming winters.” So, Mom, Dad and I picked Dean up literally at the Hospital in the moving van, and we moved to Arizona. And that is how my Arizona story began.
We lived mostly in Mesa, Arizona, though we did make a move to Orem, Utah for a year and a half – but then it was back to Mesa.
I lived in the Mesa 10th Ward – which was located just a couple of blocks north of the Mesa, Arizona Temple. This was a great ward – with many wonderful people. I loved them all and still have special memories of all whom I knew there. Of course, my time in pack and troop 155 were some of my greatest times. (“155, … the BEST ALIVE”) I absolutely loved everything about Scouting, received my Eagle Scout award, and led the troop though many wonderful adventures – including the National Scout Jamboree of 1973. The Scout Oath and Law instilled in me the values needed for a successful life.
My mission was wonderful. I was called to the Alabama-Florida Mission (in the “Suth’n Bible Belt”). And it was the absolute greatest adventure to be called – as “a young missionary” to serve the last six months of my mission in beautiful and historic Nauvoo, Illinois. And it is so unique that I now find myself again in Nauvoo as a “senior” missionary – doing exactly what I did back in 1975. Wow! Who gets such an opportunity to return to their original mission for a second stint of service! This is truly a miracle. And I rejoice in it!
I attended Mesa Community College before and after my mission and nearly graduated from there. I then transferred to Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah. I enrolled in the Youth Leadership program – with the goal of becoming a professional with the Boy Scouts of America. I finished my BYU program in just three very full semesters (and a packed summer of Scouting internships).
One of the greatest blessings of my BYU experience was meeting the lovely Coed, “LuDen” Belcher – arrayed in her gingham dress. We had the same major and sat by each other in five or so classes each semester. I loved her zaniness and have enjoyed her joyful spirit ever since. We had eight dates over a two-year period, and I eventually proposed by mail after not seeing her for many months. I say that “it took a month to get engaged”, but she did say, “YES!” Our first kiss (and my first kiss ever) was over the marriage altar in the Salt Lake Temple on September 14, 1978 – just before I turned age 24. “Betty Jo” has been my champion through all of these years and she loves me in spite of my many warts. I love and appreciate her.
Lou Dene (now just known as “Lou”) and I set off on an adventure of having and raising a large family. From the onset, we wanted twelve children – and that became our pursuit over the years.
We began life in Ogden, Utah, where I worked as a professional with the Boy Scouts of America. We remained in Ogden for five years before we transferred with the Boy Scouts to Santa Barbara, California, where we lived for two years. Our next life adventure took us to Santa Paula, California, where we lived for 5 years. We left there when our Marinda was just 3 days old and moved home (for me) to Arizona. We spent two years in the metropolis of Coolidge, Arizona. We then moved to Mesa. We lived three years across the street from my alma mater of Westwood High School.
We then bought the family home at 2317 E. Capri Avenue – in Mesa. It was there that we raised our then nine children. (And yes, Lou began from that time forth to say, “9 is Fine”.) We lived in this home for almost 30 years. We had wonderful family times and associations with many great people there.
I pursued way too many occupations over my lifetime and with little worldly success in any of those pursuits. I came to realize that position, title, money, and company prestige really mean nothing. What matters is who we are inside and how we are able to serve others.
I spent the last ten years of my working life as a school bus driver. With four of our married children living in Maricopa, Arizona, we chose to move there. This proved to be one of the greatest blessings of our lives. We still owed $78,000 on the Capri home and if we pursued the same path, we would have been age 80 and still trying to make a mortgage payment. We were able to sell the home, pay off the mortgage, and then buy a brand new home in Maricopa for cash. (We did have to take out a “signature loan” for about $12,000 but paid that off in about 4 years.) We worked in Maricopa for two more years and then we both retired.
Being retired and having the house paid off gave us opportunity to pursue other life adventures – including a mission together. And that brings us to the present moment and the 70th milestone which I celebrate today.
Let me say that family is everything to me. Family has been my life-long pursuit. We have been tried and tested through all of the years. We have had to sacrifice in many ways in order to support the growing family. Jobs have come and gone (mostly gone) over the years. And with all of the job changes, have come much of sacrifice and trauma. Faith is really the only thing that has helped us to get through the challenges. We have put ourselves in the hands of God and have entrusted ourselves to His care. And as we have done this, we have felt his love, guidance, and direction. And He has provided for our every need. We are grateful to Him for his special care. Each day has become a miracle and we are grateful that the miracles continue to come.
Lou and I were not perfect, but we truly did our best to instill faith and testimony in each of the children. And we definitely taught each of you to love God, Jesus, the Church, the Prophets, and the good life available through obedience to the Gospel commands and covenants. It has been a joy to see you now doing the same with your children (and soon to be grandchildren). We have a great family heritage and tradition. Let us all work valiantly to maintain all that we have built and loved together.
Now looking back over 46 years of marriage and a lifetime of experiences, we see how the Lord has truly guided our path – in the long-term as well as in the “daily miracles”. We are very grateful and we rejoice in Him.
When I was just a child, I remember a scripture that had a major impact on our whole family. I still think of this as our family motto. This is Proverbs 3:5-6 which reads, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways, acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.” That served the family well then and continues to do so with each day of our lives.
I mentioned that Lou and I wanted a large family from the beginning. We did not want to limit our family – but happily invited and welcomed each new member of our family. We continue to rejoice as new grandchildren and others come to the family. We have learned that our greatest joy has come through our family associations, connections, activities, and just living life together.
I have mentioned faith … and as an extension to that … we have always paid a full tithe to the Lord – in recognition for all that He has blessed us with. And with that, we learned early in our marriage the need to also pay a substantial fast offering. Had we not done these two things, we never could have survived the financial challenges that we faced. We were truly blessed because of these commitments, and I commend the practices to all of you.
Throughout our lives, we have given our all to the Lord in consecration of our time, talents, and everything which He has blessed us with. And this has been the greatest blessing and opportunity for us. We are grateful that we made that decision early in life – to give our all. That way of life is still the backbone of our personal strength and character. It has been wonderful to have served through the years.
Faithfulness in the Gospel has also brought the greatest blessings to us and to our family. We both have ancestors going back six to eight generations in the church – on almost every side. These ancestors left us a legacy of faith, fortitude, and commitment to their covenants – that has carried down to us. I have felt of their strength.
Missionary service has been a life-long focus. I have been involved in some kind of missionary assignment for most of my life. I love the missionary effort, the focus, and the joy of seeing others come into the Church and fold of Jesus Christ. I know that you can experience great joy, and happiness, as you too, share the Gospel of Christ with those around you.
I noted above, my love and connection with my ancestors and extended family. I have always been so proud to be numbered as one of 83 grandchildren of my revered grandparents, Ray Von Hunt and Augusta Wilcox.. I developed a love for genealogy and family history research when I was just 12 years old. Much of my teen existence was spent in seeking for and documenting the lives of my ancestors. And forever since then, that has been my greatest ambition and focus. I feel a very strong connection to the great ancestors who have gone before me/us and who have now passed to the next world. I look forward to meeting them all in a grand reunion some time. It has been very self-fulfilling to me as I have researched and documented the lives of these people of commitment, fortitude, and dedication – in the Nauvoo and pioneer experiences – as well as in their daily lives through their mortal experiences. Ours is a special and sacred heritage through these magnificent people. It is my hope that all family members might feel that same connection and relationship to them.
I love the mention of the “Spirit of Elijah” as noted in D&C Section 2. This scripture appears in most of the standard works, but I love the unique wording as found in Section 2. God’s promise is that “Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah, the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers.” We made promises to “our fathers” (and mothers) before we came to the earth. They need us, and we need them. As President Nelson has repeatedly said, “When we assist with temple and family history work, we are helping to gather Israel on both sides of the veil.” That is our charge and opportunity … and it is your opportunity and blessing.
The Lord has given me many talents and I have enjoyed and loved each one. I have learned that all talents and abilities come to us through the Holy Ghost and having realized this, I have been blessed in my writing and in many other ways. I encourage each of you to learn to hear and feel the voice of the Spirit in your desires for new talents and opportunities. I love the “parable of the talents” and have felt the power and personal growth of the man with the ten talents. I rejoice in that which the Lord has given to me. And I know that you can have the same joy as you develop and share your own talents.
For over fifty years, I have made the dedicated effort to record a journal entry for each and every day of those many years. The journals now number about 140 volumes. I have already witnessed great blessings from the journals as I have researched them for my own projects and as I have shared memories of life milestones with each of you. I leave these many journals to each of you as my personal legacy and gift to you. I hope that you will find occasion to someday search and enjoy the journal records. There is much in the volumes that is mundane and routine, but in the daily entries, there is much that is good, great and magnificent. Reading these journals beyond the lens of the current day, helps us to see the “big picture” and how the Lord really has guided our lives – and each day of our lives.
Be aware that the journals may reflect some of my “brash” demeanor or opinions (for which I apologize), but I really did write the journals for each of you – collectively and individually. The journals tell the lives of each of us over the past 50 years. We lived it together and you can each relive those special times through the journals. Each of the journals has been digitized and are available to you in many ways.
And in mentioning my own journalling efforts, I likewise encourage each of you to record your comings and goings of your life. I did not start recording my journal entries until I was age 18. I really wish that I had started writing the journals when I was about 12. I commend the dedication and commitment of journal writing to each of you. It is well worth the effort and sacrifice. I know that writing your life will bring you great personal and family happiness, as it has to me.
And a couple of years ago, I pulled together all records, cards, brochures, photos, and every possible detail from my lifetime. I compiled these into my 20+ volumes of my personal autobiography. Yes, you heard me right … 20 plus volumes of my life and times – wrapped together under the title of “My Life’s Collective Works”. Few of you have taken time to peruse these books – in your current rush of life, but I sincerely hope that you will each individually, take time to peruse and read these books. Again, they are my legacy to each of you. In them, you will find the real me, (and the Lord’s blessings to me) revealed. The books detail the good life that I and we have enjoyed together.
There is much more that I could write … and I could go on forever. But, I hope that what I have written might help you think of me with some joy in having me as your husband, father, grandfather – and hopefully many generations of “grands” yet to come. I love each of you and have been so blessed to have had you in my life.
I would like to close this letter to each of you with my own personal testimony. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer. I know that God the Father, sent Him to us as His Son. I know that God created the world for each of us – as families – that we might have eternal joy and happiness together. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth – with all the necessary Priesthood and Keys through His chosen Prophet, Joseph Smith. I know that God and His Son did in fact visit the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know that they sent many angels to restore the priesthoods and keys to the earth in this, the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times, I have a strong love of and testimony of The Book of Mormon. This Book has been the foundation for my continuing joy and happiness through all of my life. I have loved the Book and its simple truths each time that I have read it. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints truly is the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ upon the earth today. I know that we have a living prophet to guide and direct us today. I share these thoughts with you in the name of Jesus Christ.
Kevin V. Hunt
Written and shared October 31, 2024
On the Nauvoo Trail 