He was a WWII Navy man of few words from Los Angeles. She was a vivacious Catholic teenager living in Oakland with a widowed father. Alfonso and Connie Ortega met at a mutual family friend's house in 1944 and wrote letters to each other every day while Al was serving with the Armed Forces during wartime in Honolulu, Hawaii.
When Al returned after the war to his home in L.A., he took the bus twice a week to visit Connie in Northern California while she was finishing her senior year at St. Elizabeth High School. All dates were chaperoned by Connie's sister at her father's insistence.
Connie laughs when she recounts how Al popped the question: "How'd you like to change your name?" To sweeten the news to her father, Al brought a dozen donuts to their house to celebrate.
Al, 80, and Connie, 79, have shared a lot of celebrations since their 1947 marriage. Founding members of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Monterey Park, they will travel to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels Feb. 11 to participate in a World Marriage Day afternoon liturgy with approximately 250 couples.
Among 17 couples celebrating 60 or more years of marriage at the WMD Cathedral liturgy, the Ortegas feel their faith was instrumental in helping them reach their 60th wedding anniversary milestone.
The Ortegas say it also helped to have a one-day-at-a-time attitude. And, says the more talkative Connie, "a sense of humor." She credits her husband, who worked for a decorators' design sample service company for 40 years, with "the patience of Job." He compliments her for her ability to talk to anybody --- even enjoying conversations with directory assistance telephone operators.
In fact, they say conversations about mutually important issues were essential to their successful marriage. One of the important issues they discussed early in their marriage was their desire to adopt children. They didn't care if the adoption agency gave them a girl or a boy, but they decided they would request the same gender for the second child.
In the mid-'50s, they were thrilled to become adoptive parents. Though the adoption agency had told the Ortegas Connie would have to quit her AT&T management job six months before a child would be placed with them, they were asked if they wanted to adopt a three-month-old girl just a few months after their initial application to the Children's Home Society.
Connie quit work on a Friday and the Ortegas became new parents on the following Monday to their daughter, Teresa. Their second daughter, Denise, came three years later. The girls were among the first students to attend the brand new St. Thomas Aquinas School.
Connie was a stay-at-home mom until the girls' high school years. She began working part-time for the Alhambra school district and went full-time when the girls graduated. She worked for 15 years as a high school secretary and office manager, retiring on the same day as her husband in the fall of 1990.
Just a few months after retirement, their second grandchild was born, Alfonso James ("AJ") Ortega. They cared for him during his preschool years while their daughter worked, and proudly display 16 photos in their family room for every year of his life.
The Ortegas keep active in retirement with their many volunteer and fellowship activities at St. Thomas Aquinas. Al is a parish sacristan, Connie is a lector, and both are longtime Eucharistic ministers. They have been going out to monthly breakfasts with a stalwart group of five parish couples, most of whom have been married over 50 years.
In his spare time, Al enjoys gardening in the beautifully landscaped back yard. He proudly points out his rare black lilies, planted among his wife's rose bushes. Both Al and Connie appreciate their many blessings. "The good Lord watches over us," says Connie. |