By JAY COFFIN
Donna Smith couldn’t believe what she was about to do.
“I’m a straight up, honest person with people,” she said. “I’m direct, specific and non-punishing. I get along with everybody. If I think it, I’ll probably say it if it’s nice.”
What Donna had to say, or in this case text, to John Ames was more than nice. It was wildly unexpected. She was about to send a note to her neighbor of 20 years and admit that she wished it was her that he asked to join him as a date for a round of golf at last year’s Spark Golf league spring season in St. George, Utah.
“Just one night I texted him, I said, ‘you know it’s really weird, I almost felt jealous today,’ Donna recalls. “That changed our perspective. I finished up the year just on his team.”
Four months later, Ames proposed. Two months later, they were married.
The proposal? Ames had the staff at SunRiver Golf Club blurt it out during announcements before the groups were set to see off for one of the weekly Spark Golf rounds in the fall. “Donna Smith, will you take John Ames’ hand in marriage?”
“If somebody would’ve told me that I would date Donna Smith, let alone be married in less than a couple years I would’ve said you were crazy on both accounts,” John said. “But she flipped the card on me.”
John, 64, lost his wife of 35 years, Lisa, to cancer in November 2022. He was a corporate Wall Street executive for two decades and flew around the world for years and years, but ultimately moved back to Utah and started a realty business. He retired the last five years of Lisa’s life so he could be by her side every waking moment.
“I missed so much during my corporate travel,” John said. “I wanted to be there, whatever was left and to catch up for years lost. We traveled every two weeks all over the world. If she was well enough, we’d be on an airplane.”
According to John, Lisa was diagnosed with eight different kinds of cancer. She was the toughest person he’s ever known. “Imagine three 55-gallon barrels. That’s how much chemo she had for the last 15 years of her life,” he said.
Donna, 61, had been single for 18 years and was always active. She’s competed in triathlons, an ironman and at least 10 different marathons. She owns a realty business in St. George – yes, technically she and John were competitors in the same town – and guides whitewater rafting trips on the Salmon and Middle Fork rivers in Idaho.
John and Donna each have three children, who grew up with each other over the past two decades. John has daughter McKenzie, who now lives in Florida; sons Chase and Brady both live in St. George; Chase bought John’s realty business from him several years ago. Donna’s oldest son Nick lives in Boise; Son Skylar is in Costa Rica; Daughter Madison lives in town and works for Donna as a realtor.
Since Lisa’s death, John had not been sleeping well. So he purchased a membership to a 24/7 indoor golf club where he could hit golf balls in the middle of the night. He started inviting Donna because he knew that she played.
In return, Donna invited John to join her at SunRiver for last year’s Spark Golf spring season. She had played a few weeks, thought it was fun and told John it would be a way for him to bring dates to the golf course and meet new friends.
“I had been dating a girl I liked, and we parted ways,” John said. “I was busted up that day and sad. She came over to console me, she’s always been a great neighbor with our family. She said she’d help set me up with other friends.”
A few weeks later, John brought another date to the league. Later that night, Donna sent the text that would change the trajectory of their relationship.
“Before that, she was always just Donna next door,” John said.
Now they’re inseparable. They won Spark Golf’s fall session in St. George. They found a wedding ring in September and got married on October 14. They take golf trips as often as possible – have been to Ft. Lauderdale, San Diego and Phoenix recently – and pickleball is another favorite hobby. This spring they’re not only returning to play in the Wednesday Spark Golf league at SunRiver, they’re driving 40 miles on Thursdays to play in the Coyote Willows Spark league in Mesquite, Nevada.
“We were neighbors, our kids knew each other and we went to the same church,” Donna said. “But I honestly didn’t even know he knew how to have fun. He always seemed way more serious.
“But he is very kind. I’m the lucky one.”
The couple readily admits that their relationship was unexpected, and both are quick to acknowledge that people who have long known them both can’t believe that they ended up together. But they’re happy, having fun, traveling the world and playing golf.
Divine intervention, they say, is the only explanation.
“We think Lisa has her hands in it from Heaven, no question, without hesitation,” John said. “Lisa and God put Donna in my life.”
Jay Coffin is 25-year industry veteran who has worked for Golfweek, Golf Channel and Golf Digest, among other stops. He’s covered 40 major championships and has traveled to 13 different countries to document the game. He lives in Orlando and owns Coffin Corner Media, a communications consulting business.