When 15-year-old Mary Elizabeth Matejka cut ahead of two boys in line at the Parkside Cafe at Kennywood Park 40 years ago, she had no idea the move would change her life forever.

Hungry and impatient because the boys were busy talking and not moving up in the line, Mary Elizabeth and her friend jumped in front of them, something she said was totally out of character for them to do.

"I think he asked me what I was doing, and I told him that if they'd rather socialize than eat, we were moving ahead because we were starving," she said, laughing. "If I hadn't done that, we probably never would have met."

Both of the teenagers were at the park that day for school picnics. He was a 16-year-old sophomore at Montour High School and she was a freshmen at Ambridge. Later, the boy she'd spoken to was lamenting that he might not have enough money to pay for his food.

"That was when she offered to pay if I didn't have enough money," said John Mawhinney. He was so moved by the gesture, he was willing to overlook her line-jumping. He asked the girls to join him and his friend for lunch.

That afternoon they rode some rides together, Mr. Mawhinney said. At the end of the day, as he watched her get on a bus, he knew he had to make his move. The line-jumping girl had captured his heart.

"I ran to the side of the bus she was on and banged on the window and asked if I could have her number," he said.

Thankfully, she obliged.

After six years of dating, college and launching careers, the couple married.

Forty years from the day they met, John and Mary Elizabeth Mawhinney, who now live in McCandless, are married with two children and four grandchildren. Last month, the couple visited Kennywood again to celebrate their relationship and reminisce about how they first met.

Mrs. Mawhinney, now 55, said the park found out about their story when her husband was searching their Web site for ticket pricing. There was a place on the Web site asking people to e-mail special memories of the park. Mr. Mawhinney, now 56, e-mailed their story and was later contacted by the park with the offer of free admission.

"They [park staff] asked if they could use it as a promotional event for them, so of course we agreed," she said.

Mary Lou Rosemeyer, Kennywood spokeswoman, said it is "pretty common to have people come back on their anniversaries. But I don't know of anyone who has come here every year for 40 years like the Mawhinneys."

Many couples hav e gotten engaged and even married at the park, Ms. Rosemeyer said, and it is always wonderful to hear of those couples returning. One year, the park asked everyone who had met, become engaged or just plain fell in love there to return to renew their vows in a mass ceremony. Forty couples participated in that event, Ms. Rosemeyer said.

The Mawhinneys spent their day at Kennywood reliving how they first met, riding rides and just enjoying themselves.

Some things have changed at the park since they first met, Mrs. Mawhinney said. The most noticeable thing is how admission is now charged. When they first visited the park as teenagers, visitors had to buy strip tickets valued at 5 cents each and figure out how many they needed to ride the rides. Each ride cost a different amount. Now, the park offers a flat admission fee.

"I still have some of those old strip tickets," she said.

The other thing she noticed was something that 40 years ago might have changed the course of history.

"Now they have signs up at the food areas that say line-jumping will get you removed from the park," she said, laughing. "Thank goodness they didn't have those back when we first met here, or things might have ended quite differently."