SANTA ANA : 75 Years, and Love Still Strong

If anyone knows what it takes to make a marriage work, it’s Juan and Victoria Salgado. After all, they’ve been making theirs work for 75 years now.

“It takes love and respect,” Victoria Salgado said Thursday. “If (spouses) don’t have respect for each other, how can they stay together for so many years?”

Juan, 94, and Victoria, 93, will celebrate their anniversary today with five generations of their descendants. All 96 members of the family and about 100 friends are expected to attend a ceremony this afternoon during which the couple will renew their wedding vows, grandson Louis Salgado said.

“They’re a great couple. These people are very witty, very strong in their minds. They watch over our family,” he said.

At their home on Civic Center Drive, where they have lived for 63 years, the couple described in Spanish how they fell in love. They often finished each other’s sentences in telling the tale.

They grew up as neighbors in Michoacan, Mexico, and Juan Salgado began courting Victoria when he was about 13, bringing her oranges as gifts. But Victoria rejected her future husband because she said both their families were poor and she dreamed of meeting and marrying a wealthier man. But after Juan persisted in courting her for seven years, she gave in and they eloped, immigrating in 1919 to the United States.

Victoria Salgado said she has never regretted her decision to marry Juan.

“I feel happy and proud. I feel I don’t deserve all of this celebration,” she said.

Describing why he pursued Victoria for so long without encouragement from her, Juan Salgado pointed to his heart, tapped several times and said, “My heart told me to do so.”

Daughter Carmen Vasquez, 63, said her parents provide an example for any married couple to follow.

“They thrive on love for family,” she said. “That’s why they’ve lived so long.”