Love Story: Jacob and Mina Ritland

Published 11:10 pm Tuesday, August 14, 2007

In 1975, Mina Hoofnagle was a customer at the Marysville gas station where Jake Ritland worked. He noticed her and they chatted a little.

Jake thought Mina was very cute.

It took Jake a few months, but he finally got up the nerve to ask Mina out on a date. He wanted to take her to see country singer Charley Pride.

Mina accepted the offer but had to go and ask friends who Pride was and what kind of music he played.

“She had no idea who he was,” Jake said. “She was more used to rock and roll type of music.”

Jake fell in love with Mina almost immediately.

“For her it took a little while for me to wear her down,” Jake said.

A year after they began dating Jake asked Mina to marry him. He told his love that she was the one that he wanted to spend his life with.

Jake wanted to be more financially stable so he asked Mina to wait a year for their wedding.

Jacob and Mina Ritland of Marysville will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary with a trip to Oahu, Hawaii.

They were married Aug. 13, 1977, at the Stillaguamish Valley Pioneer Park in Arlington.

Jake was raised in the Everett and Mukilteo area. He is a graduate of the first class of Mariner High School in 1972. He is a 20-year Boeing employee.

Mina is from Marysville. She graduated form what was then Pilchuck High School in 1974. Mina has worked at the Marysville YMCA for 12 years.

The couple have two children, Jonn and Evie, and a dachshund named Stumpy Dude Chance.

When they first married, Jake and Mina rented a duplex in Marysville. Four years later they bought the land they now live on.

The past 30 years have gone by quickly for Jake and Mina.

“It just doesn’t seem that long,” Jake said. “The old saying ‘seems like yesterday’ is true.”

Jake describes Mina as having been a great mother who is very patient with the kids, looking after them when he was working overtime shifts at Boeing.

“I can be very obnoxious and stubborn,” Jake said. “So she’s put up with a lot.”

Jake would tell people starting out to have patience in their relationship.

“You never stop learning about one another. She still surprises me,” he said.

Mina is very outgoing but at the same time somewhat shy, Jake said. She is very loving and gives of herself more than she should.

“She is my life. I don’t know what I’d do without her at this point,” Jake said. “She is everything to me.”

For information on Love Story and Celebrations, call Christina Harper at 425-339-3491 or e-mail harper@heraldnet.com.