Shared values draw high school couple back together

Friday, May. 23, 2014

SALT LAKE CITY — Like many high school couples, Mary Garces and James Brennan separated after they graduated from Judge Memorial Catholic High School.

Coming from a very faithful Catholic family and educated in Catholic schools, Garces said that her heart was broken when she said goodbye to Brennan.

“I was so devastated because I was going to California and he was going to stay in Utah,” said Garces, who nevertheless kept in contact with Brennan, and “every night I prayed for him.”

Meanwhile, Brennan started a career and waited. 

“Since our school years I always knew she was the one,” he said. “She was – and is – so beautiful, and I always felt so much respect for her. I could see her being the mother of my children and my life companion.”

When Garces returned to Utah after graduating from the University of California in Irvine, Brennan asked her out, which she said was an answer to her prayers.

“In school they taught us Catholic values and in my family we have very strong values, too,” Garces said. “James always fit my image of a perfect man, but when I chose to go to study out of state, I doubted we could marry. … I thought in the meantime he was going to meet another girl.”

The couple married in 2001; they are parents of a set of 9-year-old twins.

Respect for each other and a commitment to family are the values that have kept the couple together through good times and bad, Garces said. 

“James respects me, and he loves our kids and family life,” she said. “I won’t say there haven’t been difficulties, but with a lot of prayer and patience and listening to each other, we keep on growing together.”