Sacrificial love draws woman to Catholic faith

Mike Martinez stands by Sophie Martinez as she is baptized by Bishop Peter

Christensen. (Courtesy photo)

By Emily Woodham

Staff Writer

The seventh annual Sun Valley Tour de Force drew to a close July 20, 2024 under clear skies and ideal racing conditions.

The charity event’s “No Speed Limit” high-speed run at Phantom Hill started with the roar of sports cars attempting to beat a record of more than 250 mph. But just after reaching the finish line, Ron Martinez and his friend, Zach Alder, a passenger, crashed at 211 mph.

After flipping more than 15 times, Martinez was transported by air to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise. Doctors had given him no more than a 35% chance of surviving and doubted he would make it beyond 24 hours.

“Ron had to be put in a medically induced coma and placed on a ventilator for about four weeks,” said Sophie Martinez, Ron’s daughter-in-law. “It was a miracle he survived.”

Alder, whose injuries were not as critical, also survived.

Sophie had just become engaged to Ron’s son, Mike, about one month before the crash.

“We were suddenly thrown into this roller coaster of emotions, and I saw how Mike and his family clung to their faith in the worst of times,” she said. “It was amazing how his mom would pray a rosary every morning with Ron while holding his hand, even when he was in a coma. The Martinez family would pray together every day in the trauma ICU.”

Idaho Bishop Peter Christensen, whom she had met at a family dinner before the crash, visited them at the hospital. He anointed Ron and brought him the Eucharist even though the Bishop was still recovering from Guillain-Barré syndrome, which had resulted in his admittance to the intensive care unit at Saint Alphonsus just weeks earlier.

Seeing such sacrifices of love in Mike’s family, Bishop Peter’s commitment to providing pastoral care, and how their Catholic faith sustained them during such a critical time, solidified her decision to come home to the Catholic Church.

“I just knew that I needed to be Catholic,” she said.

The journey home

Sophie, whose maiden name is Warda, was raised in a nondenominational Christian church in Central Valley, California. Her mother was Catholic, and her father was an evangelical.

“Our family was very faithful. I have two brothers and a twin sister, and we were all involved in our church. We had the best childhood,” she explained. “I was very involved with sports, but we always made time for church. We went several nights a week for different youth groups and service projects, and every Sunday, even when we traveled.”

Sophie only attended Mass once during her childhood.

“During a visit to see my grandma, my mom’s mom, we went to Mass. I knew it was special, but I wasn’t old enough to make a decision about the Catholic Church,” she said.

She attended the University of California, Davis, following high school, where she excelled, pursuing a double major in psychology and communications, and gained an internship working for the football team.

Mike and Sophie Martinez at the Easter Vigil at St. John's Cathedral. Sophie was baptized and confirmed at the Vigil by Bishop Peter. (Courtesy photo)

“I still considered myself religious and prayed, but I stopped feeling God’s presence in my life,” Sophie admitted.

In 2019, she went with her family and maternal grandmother to Rome.

“We went during a time that was probably the lowest point in my entire life,” she said. “I was sorting out some bad relationships in my life and was at a crossroads. I felt like the trip to Rome with my family was very good timing.”

Their time seeing the sights in Rome and Vatican City, Sophie conveyed, was fantastic, but breakfast at the Vatican was the pinnacle of the trip.

“Pope Francis came and blessed our food,” she beamed. “I recognized very quickly that it was very special what we were able to do, and I held that very close to my heart.”

Despite her experiences in Rome and conversations with her mom and grandma, she still didn’t feel the need to become Catholic.

Life takes a turn

Sophie graduated from UC Davis in 2020, completing her two degrees in three years, and became a full-time nanny for a coach’s family, for whom she had frequently babysat before.

“They were practicing Catholics, but they never pushed their faith,” she said. “They just lived it.”

She ultimately moved with them when they relocated to Boise.

“I was so close to them that it was a no-brainer to go with them to Boise,” Sophie said.

The family joined Sacred Heart Parish in Boise, and the children went to Sacred Heart Catholic School. As she became more involved with the Catholic community through the children, she became more curious about the Church.

While the children were in school, she worked for the Boise State University football team and pursued her master’s degree in sports leadership. She also became close friends with the players, especially with quarterback Hank Bachmeier and his then-girlfriend (now fiancée), Jenna Vitamanti.

In 2022, Hank and Jenna invited Sophie to go with them to Mass on Easter morning at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist.

“When I stepped inside the cathedral for the 10 a.m. Mass, I suddenly became so emotional,” Sophie recalled. “I hadn’t felt God’s presence for so many years, but when I walked in there, I felt Him. I pulled my phone out and took a picture, right then, because I didn’t want to forget that moment.”

Because it was so crowded, she and her friends had to stand in the back of the church for the Mass, which Bishop Peter celebrated.

After the Mass, Hank introduced Sophie to another friend of his, Mike Martinez. Hank was sure that Sophie and Mike would hit it off.

Mike was born and raised in Boise and graduated from Bishop Kelly before playing basketball at a small university in Iowa. After completing his degrees in communications and sports management, he began working for the New Orleans Saints. He is currently an assistant to head coach Kellen Moore, a former Boise State quarterback.

“Because the Saints were in the offseason, Mike was staying in Boise with his family. About a month after we met, we saw each other at a birthday party for a mutual friend,” Sophie explained. “We sat together and talked about ourselves and football for two hours.”

They bumped into each other in McCall during the Fourth of July, and that’s when Mike asked her out on a date.

“We went to Bardenay in downtown Boise and the rest is history, as they say. He had to go back to New Orleans, so we had to keep up with our relationship long-distance,” she said. “But we were really drawn to each other: our values, morals and our views on relationships. We also talked a lot about faith. We even talked about Bishop Peter’s homily from Easter.”

Sophie finished her master’s at Boise State in 2023 and soon after accepted a job in New Orleans so she could pursue her relationship with Mike. The couple were engaged in June 2024. Not long after, Sophie was introduced to Bishop Peter during a dinner with Mike’s family.

“The Church can be intimidating because its history and rituals are so rich, but Bishop Peter put me at ease,” she said. “After meeting him, I knew I wanted to be baptized in the Church. I knew that I didn’t want to get married if it wasn’t in the Church and if it wasn’t Bishop Peter who married us. Because marriage is a union, a team, I did not want to walk into marriage without sorting out my own faith. I wanted to commit to being on the same

ground for our future family.”

Mike with his father, Ron, at Easter Vigil at St. John's Cathedral. (Courtesy photo)

The crash

Mike’s dad was in the near-fatal Sun Valley Tour de Force crash just weeks later.

“Ron is doing so much better now,” Sophie said. “It’s a miracle that he’s alive and walking and talking.”

Certain that she wanted to become Catholic, she signed up for OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults) at a parish in New Orleans.

“It was so fulfilling. I was raised knowing the Bible, but I felt like going to OCIA was a fresh start,” she said. “It helped me hack away at some worldly stuff in my life and to really focus on praying and meditating. The blessings that we have in this world are so beautiful and abundant, but we need to know how to let go of them. We need to be ready to go to heaven one day.”

When the time came to be baptized, she was concerned that the trip to New Orleans would be too difficult for Ron, who was still recovering from the crash. Not wanting him to miss her baptism, she sought permission from the Archdiocese of New Orleans to be baptized and Confirmed during the Easter Vigil at St. John’s Cathedral in Boise. Permission was granted.

Just before the Easter Vigil, Sophie looked again at the photo she took of the cathedral three years earlier. As she looked closely at the people near the altar, she recognized someone very dear to her, whom she did not know at the time of the photo.

Mike and Sophie Martinez on their wedding day. (Courtesy photo)

“My photo of the cathedral was photobombed by Ron, my future father-in-law,” she said with a chuckle. “There are no coincidences!”

Just as she had hoped, Bishop Peter baptized and Confirmed Sophie at the cathedral. He then presided at the wedding Mass for Sophie and Mike on the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on June 28 of this year.

“Everything in our lives is God working to bring us all home,” she said.