George and Susan Gutmans are citizens of Geneva, Switzerland, whose delight it is to have been vacationing in Anguilla for the past twenty-five years. They are both retired now, but he had last worked as an economist of Citi-Bank, Switzerland, while she worked as a journalist and ran her own publishing company.
Their story is one of faith, love and marriage. The Anguillian chanced to be introduced to them at their “wedding” ceremony at St. Andrew Anglican Church, in Island Harbour, where they actually decided, through their faith, to renew their vows and recommit themselves in love to one another, bound together in the bond of marriage for life.
In Switzerland, George and Susan were first married in 1991. Their acquaintance with Anguilla began not too long after their marriage, while Susan ploughed through a tourist guide book trying to find a suitable place in the Caribbean where they could spend a vacation. Her eyes and her heart became fixed on Anguilla, and soon they both decided to take the trip in 1996.
George said that he vividly remembers their eleven-hour trip. “I can’t forget it, he recounted. We had flown from Geneva to Paris, and from Paris to St. Martin. And I can’t forget our short trip over to Anguilla on Carl Thomas’ plane. It was close to sunset as we flew in and, looking down on the island at twilight, I thought of Anguilla as being a rather backward country, undeveloped and rustic.
“What made it even worse, is that electricity went off at our hotel that same night, and I complained to Susan that I felt like heading back home the next morning. I did not really like the experience then, but the next morning when we arose and beheld the charming scenery, and the brilliant sunlight on the ocean, my heart was captured. I wanted to stay, and since then we have endeavoured to come to Anguilla ever so often. We love it here. The people are so friendly, and the peace and quietness is therapeutic.”
But, somewhere along the line of time, the couple became separated, and began to drift apart. Five years later, their love for one another drew them back. They reconnected, took a trip to Anguilla, and re-married in the local courthouse. Throughout the course of their marriage three children were born to their union. Now, fifteen years after their courthouse ceremony, they returned to have their union blessed at St. Andrew Anglican Church.
Susan explains that what inspired them to be blessed at St. Andrew is George’s conversion to a new-found faith. “Up until eighteen months ago,” she said, “George had been an agnostic. He was born as a Jew, but he did not believe in the existence of a sovereign, loving God. I had been quite spiritual and religious, though. I was raised with Christian principles, being the daughter of an English Methodist minister. But when I turned forty, I was motivated to convert to Catholicism.”
“When we retired three years ago,” she reflected, “we found that we had more time on our hands. We would regularly spend a lot of time in Italy when we are not in Anguilla. One day, not long ago, while we were in Italy, George walked into the bedroom and said, ‘You know, I was thinking seriously about the things of life.’ I had just given him a book to read, a few days before. It was a little book written by Pope Francis, and it explained Baptism and the Ten Commandments. George said, ‘ You know, I read this book, and I think I want to be baptised.’ You can just imagine the joy that filled my heart. You could have knocked me over with a feather.”
“So George was soon baptised,” she exclaimed gleefully. “George knew my faith is very important to me, and he realised that his was not important to him, as an agnostic. At the same time when he got baptized, we decided to have our three children baptized as well. Now, since we are all baptised in the Catholic faith, we decided to bless our marriage at St. Andrew Anglican Church — our renewed marriage which was officiated at the courthouse in Anguilla some fifteen years ago.”
George and Susan Gutmans were matrimonially blessed at St. Andrew on Monday, December 27th, 2021. The ceremony was officiated by Canon Simon Reid, and the Gutmans’ children, Felicia, James and Henry, each played an important role in it. The St. Augustine’s Chorale featured in the singing of specially selected songs as a prelude to the renewal of their vows. A sumptuous reception later followed at the exquisite Manoah Resort on Shoal Bay Beach.
