This is the story shared by Edelmira Montalvo, Doña Ita, with her group of Las Guerreras del Norte, during a summer long mural project at Centro Tyrone Guzman in Minneapolis. She chose to be photographed with a white angel because it represents her American dream: being married by the Church. Doña Ita was born in 1952 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She was married to the father of her daughters, but it wasn’t a religious marriage. For her, a devout Catholic, the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony was very important. She was able to baptize her children but couldn’t receive communion. When she left her husband, her 92 year old mother told her to find a good man and to get married. The nuns advised her to marry God. She listened to her mother. She was already 50 when she met José, but he was a married man then. Years later they reconnected. José had become a widow. Doña Ita agreed to go out with him but she wanted to get married by the church. On the 28 of December of 2014, the Feast of the Sacred Family, at the age of 62, her dream came true. Doña Ita got married in a religious ceremony at the Holy Rosary Church in Minneapolis. She wore the same dress her younger daughter wore at her own wedding. After raising two daughters, giving them an education, and becoming a registered nurse at the age of 60, getting married in the Church was her biggest accomplishment and something she is really proud of. Marriage is not easy, but with the help of God and the guidance of prayers she feels blessed. 

– Edelmira Montalvo

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant