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“The Group” gathers monthly for 65 years

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Joyce and Ned Wilson loved to dance. As a young couple in the fifties they mastered the fox trot, jitterbug, and waltz, and wanted to learn the Bosa Nova.

Alma Heaton, legendary BYU dance instructor and recreation guru, agreed to teach the Wilsons if they could get a group together. Eighteen of Lehi’s fun-loving, young marrieds agreed to join the dance group. That was the beginning of friendships lasting over six decades.

Dancing was a much-loved pastime in Lehi for many years, especially for this group. The group organized by Wilson became known as “The Dance Set.” Each month they gathered at a local church or other venue and danced the night away. The couples and their children loved being together. They laughed, cried, and danced for 45 years.

The “Dance Set” gradually dissolved but the need to be together as friends remained. “The Group” evolved. Once each month, the four remaining couples, Hal and Kathryn Holmstead, Carma and Dale Price, Lois and Kent Davis, Laurel and Rial Berry, along with widows Lurae Ault, Marna Berry, Shirley Southwick, Fern Whimpey, Beverly Carson, and Rose Smith get together. They pick each other up so driving isn’t an obstacle for anyone.

The Group now gathers for a monthly lunch at homes of the members. Sometimes they have guests who play instruments, but more than anything they laugh and see each other through hard times with compassion and love. They have supported each other through deaths, births, good and bad times. “We are more like family,” comments Lois Davis. Our children have also become good, supportive friends of each other,” she adds.

The oldest member of the group, Dale Price, reminisced about helping his grandfather George Price fold papers. The elder Price was the founder of the original Lehi Free Press. “There is a lot of Lehi history in this group,” noted Kent Davis. “Our favorite song now is, ‘Stayin Alive,’” quipped Kathryn Holmstead.

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