After an 11-year stint in Las Vegas — the last three years as the No. 1 show on what is known as “The Strip” — the final curtain will fall in mid-November on the dynamic Donny and Marie show. The two will no longer be a duo, and many thousands of fans around the world will be saddened to see the popular brother-sister act come to an end.

For us, personally, it was a great experience to informally come to know the pair — and the entire Osmond family — during the early years of their incredible careers. What has amazed us, and many people over the decades, is that they never strayed from living the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They’ve been known as representatives of all that is right and good about their church throughout the world. Early on, they even appeared at Buckingham Palace for the queen of England.

Our family first met the Osmond’s nine siblings and their parents in Washington, D.C. This was back when some of the older brothers were performing as group. On a vacation there, we took our sons to their exciting show at the Lincoln Center as guests of our friend, Sen. Orrin Hatch. He had known the family for years and was kind enough to arrange tickets for us.

The two of us and our five boys, ages 8 to 18, were invited to go backstage after the performance and, after sharing greetings, it was Marie — about 18 at the time — who gave our oldest, Glenn, also 18, a kiss on the cheek. His face reddened, but he loved the experience for sure. Didn’t end there. His four brothers teased him incessantly about not washing his cheek for several weeks!

Many years later, Dean was invited to attend an Osmond family meeting with Sen. Hatch, their attorney at the time. Dean was impressed with how kindly the senator helped resolve the family issue at hand. This was back in the days when Mom and Dad, George and Olive, were “running the show.”

After the meeting, Dean quietly asked George Osmond, about his feelings regarding the many issues that arise with such a famous and well-known family. He replied, “If it were up to me, I’d buy me a double-wide and park it on the side of a mountain overlooking Star Valley, Wyoming, and then just let the world go by.” This was long before a beautiful temple of the Church had been built in that lovely valley. George would no doubt have liked the idea of living there even better. However, the meeting turned out to be the end of show business for George and Olive and, instead of living in Star Valley, they remained close by their growing and talented brood in Utah.

Fast forward into the new century. The burning question is: How could a show like Donny and Marie survive for 11 years in the Las Vegas environment, also known by many as “Sin City?” How could the brother and sister — and the rest of the big family — maintain their standards all these years? This dichotomous situation could well be a classic example of “being in the world and not of the world,” as stated in the scriptures.

For our 60th wedding anniversary this past June, we celebrated by going to see the show, and we were not disappointed. They were great! We were able to go backstage again, as we had done years ago, based on our common friendship with Sen. Hatch. Donny gave us both a hug and told us to give Orrin a kick in the pants for him.

In their recent interview on CBS Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley, similar questions arose about the “squeaky clean image” of all the Osmonds. Both brother and sister agreed that they had been tempted many times with all kinds of offers to do things to make more money or to promote their shows. For example, Marie, now with a big family of her own, has been offered large sums of money to do articles and photos with some questionable magazines, but she always declined, even when the extra money would have been helpful. She says she just could not even begin to think of leaving such a legacy for her children, grandchildren and her many fans.

Both Donny (now 62) and Marie (59), both with big families of their own, have exciting plans for the future. They won’t be idle. They both live by the adage: “When you achieve one dream, dream another!”

What seems certain is that they will continue to be outstanding ambassadors of the faith they have lived throughout their lives.

Dean and Nancy Hoch are local public affairs representatives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They may be reached at dean.nancy@gmail.com.