Walker brought the same industriousness to school, where she seemed to belong to every club and organization. She graduated with honors and attended Weber for a year on a debate scholarship and was a finalist for Miss Weber. After transferring to BYU, she was student body vice president, served on the pep club and was first attendant to the homecoming queen. ("She was a great beauty in her day," says former legislator Afton Bradshaw, a close friend.) Although not a formal member of the debate team at BYU, she was recruited for the big matches anyway and usually returned with a first- or second-place prize. She took a degree in political science with a minor in history and won the Provo Chamber of Commerce's annual Outstanding Graduate Award based on scholarship and leadership.

Myron, who had recently returned from a church mission, also attended BYU. While serving as marshal of the homecoming parade, he asked friends to point out a girl for him, one who "had substance and personality." They pointed to Olene Smith in the homecoming parade.

They began dating. He graduated a year ahead of Olene and reported for Army duty in California. She won a scholarship to Stanford and moved to California and the courtship continued. Eventually, she was offered a fellowship to study abroad in Italy. Myron gave her an ultimatum: Marriage or Italy; he wasn't waiting. They survived a serious car wreck (three barrel rolls) en route to Utah to get married. She finished her master's degree in political theory at Stanford, commuting 90 miles each day, then the couple packed up and moved to Boston, where Myron had a scholarship to Harvard. The kids began to arrive, seven in 11 years.

After taking an MBA from Harvard, Myron was vice president and general manager for food-industry companies until he bought his own business, Country Club Foods, which he grew from 17 employees to 600 employees and representatives.

Balancing act

Over the years, the couple's schedules and lives seemed to balance the other's. There were times when their lives seemed to revolve around his career, and later it revolved around hers.

"It's very charming and refreshing the way they've managed everything," says Vicki Varela, Leavitt's former deputy chief of staff for communications. "It's interesting for (people) of their age and generation to have raised seven kids and they had their careers and lead independent lives in a lot of ways, but they're obviously very bonded."

Walker pursued a doctorate in education thinking she might like to teach at the university level or pursue public school administration, but several people suggested she run for an open seat in her Utah House district.