Every woman searching for a sweet man this Valentine's Day can take heart. He exists. He even lives in Sandy.
And John J. Sweetman's wife, Barbara, can attest that he really is the sweetest man. "He's just sweet in all ways," says Barbara Sweet-man, who's been married to a Sweetman for 38 years.Unfortunately, for single women hoping to snag another Sweetman, the Sweetmans have no sons. But what's in a name? None of the Cupits, from Salt Lake City, are very good matchmakers.
"The only match I made was for myself," says Bill Cupit. But he must have done a pretty good job since he and his wife, Sharon, whom he met at a church dance, have been married 30 years.
Of course the Cupits have tried to set friends up, but never successfully. They do however get a lot of prank calls: "Hey, Cupit, find me somebody." But Bill Cupit can't help; the legal investigator doesn't even own a bow and arrow.
But that's OK, since Coy Wild Love is neither shy nor wild and wouldn't touch a romance novel. The 58-year-old mother of six says people always remember her name, but it really doesn't reflect her personality.
Love, who lives in the Cottonwood Heights area, says she was shy when she was younger, but she's gotten over that now. And Love, a secretary at Kennecott who loves computers and gardening, has never really been wild. She went from her maiden name, Wild, to Love after she got married and liked the name so much she kept it even after going through a divorce.
Now Ken Kiss' wife didn't take his name after they were married eight years ago. If she had, she would have been Julie Daily-Kiss. Still, Kiss, a software engineer for Parametric Technology, has had lots of fun with his name.
Once Kiss, who is originally from Wisconsin, had a friend send him a letter with just his first name and some lips. It got to him just fine. "One of the advantages of having an unusual name," he says.
Now the Darlings' name isn't
that unusual, but it suits them well. Tracy and Jim Darling have been married for three years and truly are a darling couple. Jim Darling, who played tennis and soccer through high school and college, has blue eyes and short blond hair, while Tracy Darling, who didn't really become darling until she got married, has curly dark blond hair and blue eyes. Both have big smiles.
Though they have pet names for each other, they don't call each other darling. But for every special occasion they buy cards addressed "To my darling."
In contrast, Kathy and Scott Loveless aren't much like their last name. The two met their senior year in college while they were both working as interns for the Utah Legislature.
When Kathy Wood told her mother she had a date with a boy named Scott Loveless, her mom asked, "Didn't you have a boyfriend in kindergarten named Scott Loveless?"
Sure enough, Scott Loveless was the same boy who as a kindergartner came to the Woods' house in a starched white shirt and bow tie to ask if Kathy could play. Four months after being reunited, the childhood sweethearts were married The Lovelesses have now been married, and had plenty of love, for 25 years.
Of course, for Frank and Sheronne Valentine, Farmington, their family name always has been special to them.
The couple who have been married for 40 years and have five children and 15 grandchildren, remember Valentine's Day with fondness. That's the day Judge Valentine proposed to his wife. He said: "Will you be my Valentine?"