Couple attributes 50 years of marriage to their faith

Intermountain Catholic

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Ruben and Mary Ann Winterer Jimenez, who celebrated their 50th anniversary in May, attribute their strong marriage to the common values that are grounded in the Catholic Church. IC photo by Marie Mischel

Fifty years ago, Ruben Jimenez was a miner’s son with a military scholarship to the University of Utah. He didn’t know anyone in the Salt Lake area, but "I connected with the Catholic community at the Newman Center, and that’s where I met Mary Ann."

At the time, Mary Ann Winterer was a Judge Memorial Catholic High School in her second year at Holy Cross Hospital School of Nursing. She and her friends "heard there were some cute boys" at the Newman Center, so they went.

Six years later, after Ruben finished a military tour and Mary Ann was established in her nursing career, they married.

"Ruben was the first boy that I felt there might be something with," Mary Ann said. After they met, "Ruben was always my gold standard when I dated other men. He was the one I compared them against, and nobody matched up. He was always a gentleman. I knew I wanted to marry a Catholic boy, and he was the one. I just had to wait for him to figure it out."

Although their backgrounds are different, they share the same values, Ruben said. "I think the reason that our marriage is solid and always has been is that our values are very common and very Catholic and Christian. The rock that we always had in my family and Mary Ann’s family was our closeness to the Catholic Church."

Two of Ruben’s sisters have taken holy orders and one of Mary Ann’s brothers is a priest.

After marrying at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, they settled in Salt Lake. When the first of their five children arrived, they found a home near St. Ambrose, where they have lived since. They chose the house because it was in walking distance of a Catholic church and school.

"We wanted our kids to go to parochial school," Ruben said, and he attributes their children’s professional careers to their Catholic education.

Ruben became an activist in the Hispanic community, serving as the Diocese of Salt Lake City’s first director of Hispanic Affairs and later was appointed to the state’s Office of Hispanic Affairs. Mary Ann continued to work as a nurse, but considered being a parent her primary responsibility.

During his career, Ruben was laid off a couple times when the companies he worked for went under. "I can remember many times when we just weren’t sure where the next dollar was coming from, but we worked through it," Mary Ann said.

Despite that, they agreed that a Catholic education for their children was a priority. "We didn’t fight over finances," Ruben said.

"Over the years, we’ve disagreed, but never on the basics," Mary Ann agreed. "We might have some good discussions, but it always turns out."

Now that their children are grown, "we have a little more time to be together, to enjoy each other," Mary Ann said. "I couldn’t have done it without Ruben, and I’m so glad I stuck to my guns and realized he was the one."

"I love her," Ruben said. "I can’t wait for the next 50 years."