In honor of National Proposal Day on March 20, the Sun asked residents to send in their proposal stories. Here are some of the submissions that were received:
Submitted by Margo Foster
As an old married coupe of 55 years, we are astounded at the theatrical lengths to which today’s couples go to impress their loves with spectacular public engagements. Ours was a bit simpler.
As seniors in high school, Baird and I were fixed up for an almost-blind first date to the Haddonfield Memorial High School senior prom; the “almost” is because we had known each other slightly in junior high school, before my family moved to Indianapolis, Ind. When we made a short visit back to New Jersey, he was available because his band gig had been cancelled. A mutual friend arranged the date and it was love at second sight. The prom was Jan. 27, 1956. He was 16 and I was 17, and I knew he was the one, even if he didn’t.
During college, we maintained a long-distance relationship between Rutgers University and DePauw University in Indiana, except for summers at the shore, when the commute was easier. We never actually dated, as our limited time together was spent at the home of one family or the other, where he must have noticed that I did not cook. We segued into the marriage question, knowing that that was what we both wanted, without his making a formal proposal.
However, one hot and sticky summer night before our senior year of college, he stopped his car in the Camden County Park across the street from where I had lived. He handed me a small package. It contained “Betty Crocker’s Dinner for Two Cookbook,” a prelude to the engagement ring that he then slipped on my finger. He likes to plan ahead.
We were married soon after we both had graduated from college in 1960, and 55 years later, the cookbook is worn, we’re well fed and some nights he even fixes dinner!
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Submitted by Kelsey Pruitt
It was a beautiful summer day in July, the sun was shining (finally) and the temperature was a perfect 80 degrees when my life changed in an instant.
Sean Delaney and I are both from Moorestown and attended Baker School, WAMS and Moorestown High School one year apart from each other. He played sports and I was into music theatre, so our friend crowd never really was the same. We reconnected a few years after college and after talking long distance for about a month, we were finally both in the same place at the same time and had our first date on his birthday. He was living in Colorado and I was living in New York City, and when Sean’s job moved him to San Diego, Calif. he asked me to come with him — of course I said yes! We had an amazing time in San Diego and that’s where our engagement story begins.
Sean had a business trip in San Francisco, and asked me to meet him a few days later so we could go explore Napa and wine country together, something I always wanted to do. I met Sean in Napa and we had a wine tour planned for Saturday morning. I was so excited! Sean looked so handsome and got all dressed up for our wine tour. He wanted to bring his camera along with him to capture the day and said he was going to bring his backpack to hold it in. I thought this was weird because Sean hates carrying things, so bringing a backpack on a long tour was an interesting choice to me, but I didn’t mind because then I didn’t have to bring a purse!
We picked up some lunch from Trader Joe’s on the way and after winding up a huge mountain, we finally arrived. Sean kept commenting on how bummed he was that it was cloudy out, but at least it wasn’t raining. We went on this incredible one on one tour of the entire winery, into the catacombs underground and got to taste a ton of incredible wines. The tour ended in a giant wooden room for us to relax in with cheese and crackers and even more wine. We sat down there for a while talking with our tour guide, and just enjoying the time relaxing. After about an hour in that room, he suggested we walk out onto the patio and look over the vineyard. He opened the two giant doors leading outside and the landscape almost looked Technicolor. It was brilliant hues of pink flowers and green vines juxtaposed against the now purely sunny blue skies — a sight I’ll never forget. We walked up to the end of the patio and Sean pulled a card out of his bag. This trip was supposed to be for our one-year anniversary and he handed me my card. I felt bad because I had left my card in the room — he didn’t tell me we were exchanging cards here! I opened the card and started reading it, a beautiful card talking about how he wanted to grow old with me. He didn’t sign the card, instead the last sentence had an ellipse and when I looked up, Sean was down on one knee with this beautiful ring in his hand asking me to marry him. Of course I said yes and cried and hugged and kissed him! It was the most incredible proposal, something that I remember so vividly and will never, ever forget. Our wedding is set for Aug. 29 on Long Beach Island at the Mallard Island Yacht Club.
