High school sweethearts reunite after 32 years

Courtesy photo/Rich Valdez

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Rich and Aline Valdez will celebrate their 12th anniversary on Valentine's Day. They were high school sweethearts who married after living separate lives for 32 years.

BOUNTIFUL — Rich and Aline Valdez, members of Saint Patrick Parish in Salt Lake City who met as teenagers at school in New Mexico, will celebrate their 12th wedding anniversary on Valentine’s Day. They were high school sweethearts, but separated when Rich left school in 1963 to pursue a music career.

The first time Rich asked Aline to marry him was when she was 15 and he was 16. "I was too young then," Aline said. "When I was a junior in high school, he was supposed to come back to finish his senior year, but he didn’t return. His mother told me he was traveling all over the country, so I wrote him a ‘Dear John’ letter so I could date other guys."

Rich responded by asking her to take his letter sweater to his mother’s house and "that was the last time I heard from her," he said. "My friends and I formed a combo and would play for sockhops and weddings. We played New Mexico music, which is Spanish music with a twist to it, like Richie Valens’ song ‘La bamba.’ New Mexico music was quite popular then and we had quite a following."

Rich made his home in Utah because he loved it and it was a central location for playing gigs in other Western states. "Our group was called Cardo and the Crossover Band because we also played western, soul and rock ’n’ roll music," Rich said. "I always wore a cowboy hat and was known as the Mexican cowboy. While we were playing at the Mr. Lucky Club in Salt Lake, word spread that a hopping band at a country bar could play rock’n’roll and turn it into country music."

During his musical journey, Rich got married and had three daughters, and then divorced. "I decided I had better get a real job to support my family and started working at Salt Lake City Public Utilities," he said.

While Rich was pursuing his music career, Aline married someone else she met in high school. "He was in the military, and we had one daughter," said Aline. "I had been married for 30 years when we got divorced and my daughter and I moved to Denver to be closer to my parents."

After being divorced for 24 years, Rich made up his mind to devote his life to his daughters when he received a call from his sister telling him Aline was divorced; she gave him Aline’s phone number. "It was Father’s Day in 1997, and my daughters were so excited I called her," said Rich. "When she found out who I was, you could have heard a pin drop."

After being divorced two years, Aline made up her mind to devote her life to her parents and her daughter.

The phone call changed both of their lives; they arranged to meet in Taos, N.M., in July for a fiesta. Following that reunion, they maintained a long-distance relationship for over two years.

In December 1999, Rich made plans to surprise Aline with a wedding in Hawaii. "But the night before she was to leave for Hawaii, I had a stroke and we cancelled our plans," said Rich. "After I recovered we got married on Valentine’s Day in Las Vegas in 2000. It was a big celebration with friends and relatives coming from miles around."

Aline and Rich are now retired, although Rich has continued with his music career.

"Four years ago a friend of mine asked me to DJ for a company party because I have a large library of music," he said. "People recognized me from playing in the clubs and started asking me to DJ for wedding and anniversary parties. I made a commitment to God that if I did a good job as a DJ, I would work free of charge for Catholic Church events and even an occasional Mormon event."