Alumni Spotlight: Paul & Naomi Lunt

Paul Lunt, born to Raymond and Zelma Lunt, has Cedar City and SUU roots that run deep. His great-grandfather, Henry Lunt, was the captain of the company that settled Cedar in 1851, and his grandfather, Henry W. Lunt, was the Utah senator who authored the bill making it possible for the BNS to provide education beyond the high school level.

Graduating from the BAC in 1941, Paul served a full-time LDS mission in New England and was a member of the Army Service Forces. He enrolled at Idaho State and became a pharmacist, owning and operating pharmacies in Vernal and Roosevelt, Utah. He sold those businesses in order to attend dental school at UMKC, finishing in 1959. The Lunts returned to Cedar City where Paul developed a successful dental practice from which he retired in 1998.

Naomi Lunt, a native of Roosevelt, Utah, was born to Roy and Mildred Dillman. Her father was an attorney and politician, while her mother was a homemaker, historian and educator. Naomi graduated from BYU, USU and the Traphagen Art and Design School in New York City. She taught at schools in Utah and Nevada for seven years and refined her talents as an artist and children’s book author, writing A Dentist Of My Own which was published in English and Japanese.

Throughout their lives, the Lunts have been committed to education, particularly dental education. Both have served with the Dental Association and its Auxiliary Organizations in local and state-wide capacities. For 13 years Paul was a member of the Utah State Dental Board and even provided volunteer instruction to an SUU anatomy class with a group of local physicians.

Loyal sports fans that follow the Thunderbirds at any venue, throughout their lives the Lunts have graciously invested their time, energy and resources into serving students and providing scholarships that improve the SUU experience.

Paul and Naomi are the parent of five children, 25 grandchildren and 35 great-grandchildren.

For lives of service and concern for the education of students, the Alumni Association presented Paul & Naomi Lunt with the 2012 Carmen Rose Hepworth Award.