Be Mine: Couples share their romantic stories

Published 9:00 pm Monday, February 9, 2004

In honor of Valentine’s Day, the official day of romance, we asked Herald readers to send us the stories of their proposals. We received a number of stories, some that made us laugh and some that made us all say, "Awwwwww…" We received romantic stories from people who have been married for more than 50 years and from kids who just tied the knot, people who dated for a decade and people who knew it was love at first sight.

We hope the stories from your friends and neighbors will remind your own happy and romantic times.

Ever since I was little I have always gone to a bench in downtown Edmonds to think or just watch sunsets. The view from this bench is overlooking the Sound and you can see for miles. This bench meant so much to me that I carved my name in it when I was younger. This was my bench, my special place.

When I met my boyfriend, Shawn, I would take him to the bench and we would spend many nights just watching sunsets or having picnics. This became our special place. He carved his name into the bench.

One evening we decided to go to our bench and watch an autumn sunset. We got coffee and plenty of blankets and headed down to Edmonds. While we were down there Shawn proceeded to talk about us and how much I meant to him.

Shawn then asked me, "Honey, where is your name on this bench?"

I thought it was funny that he asked. I lifted the blanket to find carved into the bench, "TINA WILL YOU MARRY ME?"

Of course I said yes. Shawn’s brother, who had been lurking in the background taking pictures, came running up with camera in hand to congratulate us. I now have many pictures of the exact moment that I was proposed to.

My sister was able to purchase the bench from the city of Edmonds and surprise Shawn and me at our wedding on Sept. 19.

It took her 10 long months of being turned down and redirected from one city official to another until finally she turned to the mayor himself. He was wonderful and helped her to make our dream come true.

Now we have our bench in our backyard where we can relive our wonderful memories together.

Christina Beattie, Everett

Bert and I met on June 25, 1943. It was love at first sight. We met through a mutual friend at Newberry’s 5 &10 cent store where I was working after school.

We began dating right away and within weeks we knew that we would be married some day.

Bert had been attending the UW in the Navy Flight Training Program but had received notice to get his "affairs in order" and to expect orders to report for active duty within weeks. So he quit school and waited.

A short time later he received a letter stating that his orders had been put on hold. He finally received his orders and reported for preliminary flight school in early September. He expected to have leave the following June at the time of my high school graduation but it did not happen.

In the meantime he had purchased our rings, paying $30 a month, from a local jeweler where he was stationed. He got them paid for and sent them home to his parents for safekeeping. When he found out that he couldn’t get home for my graduation he asked his dad to give me the engagement ring. His dad came in the store the afternoon after graduation, got down on his knees in front of customers and employees, all laughing, and asked me if I would marry him (Bert). I said yes. He then shakingly placed the ring on my finger and gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

We celebrated our 59th wedding anniversary last month on Jan. 5. We often think back on how I got my ring.

Peggy Doph, Everett

On Sept. 28, 1991, I proposed to my wife, Linda Wynne. I had already purchased the ring and had stowed it under the seat of the car when we went to the Husky football game earlier in the day.

Later we went to a 50th birthday party for Linda’s friend Gordy. I stopped at the store on the way to get a bag of microwave popcorn, which I hid in my pocket.

I asked Gordy’s wife, Millie, to microwave the popcorn and put it in a bowl. I put the ring box with the ring in the bowl of popcorn.

After we had food to eat and the birthday cake I brought out the bowl of popcorn with the ring box in it. Linda said she was too full to eat popcorn, so I said she may want to eat some and then she found the ring box and opened it. I then handed her the card on which I had earlier written my proposal. Her comment, as she already had the ring was, "To hell with the card." I told her that she had to read the card. When she read it her answer was yes.

In Linda’s Tlingit culture she is of the Eagle moeity and I collect teddy bears. Ever since, we call each other Eagle and Bear.

I handed out copies of the proposal printed on parchment type paper at our wedding on Jan. 4, 1992. As a sitting state representative I had a 60-day legislative session, which I had to be back for on Jan. 10.

John Wynne, Lake Stevens

Where the Eagle soars,

The Bear roams:

Where the Eagle hunts,

The Bear fishes:

Eagles mate in the wild for life,

Bears wildly mate:

While the Eagle floats in the air,

The Bear runs in the wind:

Eagles nest in trees,

While Bears sleep in dens:

While the Eagle is King of its terrain,

The Bear rules his domain:

The Eagle does not hunt the Bear, and

The Bear does not hunt the Eagle.

I would like to soar with my Eagle,

If you would roam with your Bear:

I would like to nest in your tree,

If you would sleep in my den:

I would like for you to be my Eagle,

If I could be your Bear and mate for life:

Linda, my little Eagle,

I am asking you to be my wife.

John C. Wynne

September 28, 1991

When I first started dating Chad he showed me some property he purchased and told me of his plans to build a house on it and sell it for profit.

We had been dating almost exactly one year. It was Christmas Eve and his house was in its drywall stage. He was visiting me at my parents’ house and asked if I wanted to go with him to turn the propane heaters off. When we turned them off he said, "Just a minute, I want to check something upstairs." Then he handed me a flashlight (there were still no light fixtures or running water). He was up there forever! I yelled at him, "Hurry up, I’m freezing!" (I was wearing a sweat shirt and stretch pants.) Then I heard Christmas music coming from what was going to be the bonus room. I thought, "Oh yeah! He’s going to give me my Christmas present early!"

Finally he asked me to come upstairs, said he wanted me to see something. When I walked in the room I saw Chad all dressed up in black slacks, white shirt and black vest. (He had been wearing sweats also.) I glance at the room and saw a blanket in the middle of the room surrounded in drywall dust.

On the blanket was a vase filled with one dozen red roses, his lunch box had become an ice bucket for a bottle of champagne with two crystal glasses nearby and a radio was playing instrumental Christmas music. Chad grabbed both of my hands and dropped to one knee. Tears started to roll down my cheeks because I knew this was more than a mere early Christmas present.

He told me how he wanted to share his new house and the rest of his life with me. In my sweats that night … I accepted.

Now we have three children and occasionally play each other a game of foosball in our special "bonus room."

Jenifer LaCoursiere,

Lake Stevens

Looking for a romantic, funny AND strange proposal? Well, have I got a doozy. Before I begin, you have to understand that my husband, Reid, is a typical law enforcement man. No, not the bust ‘em up tough guy. You know the other type — methodical, quiet, reserved, eyes always searching for the bad guy everywhere we go.

He wasn’t always this way. We met in college in 1991; he was my roommate’s best friend. Reid was the loud ringleader of his gang of friends, the go-to guy when you needed a favor or a laugh. On our first date he sang and played his guitar. So smooth, so sweet, I knew I was in for a ride.

Fast forward eight years: We’d been living together for years, bought our first home and each worked long hours but on completely different schedules.

We lived like two ships passing in the night. A messy bed and dishes in the sink served as evidence that the other made it home safely each day.

It was a regular Tuesday no different from any other except it was our eighth first-date anniversary. Although he may be one of the least romantic men alive, Reid knows enough of the drill to have flowers delivered or at least an occasional sentimental card on appropriate occasions.

In his mind, when he says "love you" he really means to quote love poem sonnets and serenade a weepy love song. This I have to come to understand. But on this special day, no flowers, no phone calls, no deliveries of any kind.

Disappointed but, "Jeez, this man works a demanding and sometimes ungrateful job, attends the university twice a week for his master’s degree, and is your bug killer, car washer and gardener rolled up in one so give him a break," I hear running through my head. Before I can repeat it again I hear screams.

Standing in the doorway is my Reid wearing an adult-sized Winnie-the-Pooh costume, holding a bouquet of red roses. He walks towards me, only his smiling face peaking out from the furry full-body suit.

People are still screaming, a crowd is gathering in the doorway but all I see is a giant yellow and red bear on bended knee asking if I’ll be his Pooh bear forever. And that is my Reid — methodical, quiet, reserved and mine forever.

Rae Nakamura

My husband Bruce and I decided we were going to get married, but he was a year ahead of me in school at Michigan State and we both agreed I should finish college before we got married. So he graduated, got a job in California and left.

I visited him in September of my senior year and we picked out an engagement ring, then I went back to Michigan and we planned to get "officially" engaged and make the public announcement when he came to Michigan for Christmas. But somewhere between September and December we decided there was no point in waiting for Christmas, so he mailed the ring (insured, of course) to me.

Even though he wasn’t there when I put it on, it was still very exciting since I belonged to a sorority and we had a candlelight ceremony to make the announcement, which was always a surprise — who would blow out the candle? Of course no one suspected it might be me since my boyfriend was thousands of miles away on the other side of the country.

The best part is we are still happily married after almost 33 years.

Karen Richards, Snohomish

On that chilly October evening, my girlfriend, Sabina and I were driving to Jimmy Z’s on Hewitt Avenue where my band Bigtop was performing that night. "Just another rock ‘n’ roll show" she thought. This is until we parked and walked around to the front of the club where my message was displayed on the marquee, up in lights, "Sabina, Marry Me, Brian."

She was very shocked, surprised, proud and a little embarrassed. With an expletive she shouted, "Yes!" The whole night was great with a lot of friends sharing in the celebration.

Thanks, Joe, and everyone at Jimmy’s.

Brian Fritts, Everett

I was very lonely, having lost my dear wife of many years to cancer.

While visiting my brother and his wife in Everett, I had the privilege of meeting a lovely lady who was also lonely, having lost her husband in the U.S. military.

My residence is in Kent, England, and the lovely lady resides in Freeland on Whidbey Island. We have continued the relationship via phone calls and e-mail.

Last October I flew from London to Seattle and proposed to this beautiful lady at the Seattle Space Needle. Martha has accepted. We are to be married on Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day, in Everett.

My new life will be in the USA on Whidbey Island with the woman I love.

Peter Evans, Freeland

It was a Sunday night when I met Doug through mutual friends. They came to the house because they needed a bathroom. He came over every day after that.

On the following Wednesday I told him to leave and not come back. His response to that was, "Don’t fight it. I’m going to marry you."

My response was, "Right, you don’t even have a job."

He went out and found a job. Six weeks later we were married.

We’ll celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary on May 2.

And they said it wouldn’t last.

Beth Pettibone, Lake Stevens

My husband will probably divorce me for sending in our "proposal" story. Neither of us likes attention drawn, but the night he proposed all eyes were on us.

On Aug. 21 we were celebrating his boss’s 50th birthday at the other boss’s home. It was later in the evening, most everyone had left. A small group of us remained on the patio this late warm summer evening.

The birthday boy was his usual self, giving my boyfriend a bad time about not marrying me. This went on for about an hour. At one point my boyfriend turned to me and said, "Will you marry me?" I didn’t answer because I didn’t think he was serious. He asked me a couple of more times, I never answered.

By then everyone was dead silent and staring at the two of us! The crowd was in shock, I was in shock! Someone said, "She’s not answering!" My boyfriend took my hand and said, "Lynn. Do you think I would be asking you in front of all these people if I wasn’t serious?" The hostess, who also sells costume jewelry, then grabbed a ring from her inventory for my boyfriend to propose with once again.

With everyone still staring he asked me once again. I accepted. Thank God it was dark, because I was so embarrassed, and extremely shocked! After being together for over 17 years I had pretty much given up the idea of an actual proposal!

We were married Oct. 4 in Las Vegas. I was married with 50 staples in my head from a fall a week earlier, and that’s a story in itself.

Lynn Mortinson

What proposal?

The only criteria I had for a suitable marriage partner was relatively easy.

I wasn’t looking for tall, dark, handsome and rich. No, I wanted a man who would do windows. Without being asked. This I felt would eliminate 99 percent of all candidates.

My husband, Steve, in his younger days felt almost the same as I did, no real need to marry without good cause. His criteria? She had to be able to gut her own fish and bait her own hook; again, this winnowed out the bad ones.

My sweetie and I started out as platonic roommates in a large house with three others. There were lots of discussions (or arguments) about habits, housekeeping, politics, sex, typical of just-past-college-age roommates.

We both liked to fish and frequently would go with a few others to the San Gabriel River for trout fishing. One day on the San Gabriel the weather was nice, the fishing was good, the laughter and comfort very apparent. I ran out of worms and walked over to where he was fishing, reached into his bait cup and pulled out a big old worm. It was too big for my hook so I pinched it in half and threaded it on.

Witnessing this, my future spouse said, "Dammit, now I’m gonna have to marry you."

We both laughed and continued to fish and I truly thought little more about it.

The following November after the relationship had intensified further, Steve says to me, "At Christmas, when we see the families, we’ll tell them we’re getting married."

My response? "Are you going ask me first?"

He laughs and says, "I did! That day on the river!"

We’ve been married 23 years now and he will deny up, down and sideways that he proposed that way, and I have no witnesses to prove otherwise.

We still make each other laugh and, yes, he does the windows.

Ellen Dolley, Arlington

Last month I went to work like I normally do every Sunday (I manage Anthony’s Homeport Restaurant in Everett).

I was working the brunch shift and, to my surprise, standing in the lobby was my boyfriend, Chad, and my two boys. They were surprising me and going to have brunch!

I decided to sit down with them and eat since I never get to see them usually on Sunday mornings.

Well, during the meal I saw a small plane coming towards the restaurant and my oldest son commented that it looked like it was towing something. I looked out the window and realized the plane flying by had a huge banner behind it and as I began to read it I realized it said my name! "TAMI LALONE, WILL YOU MARRY ME ?"

Then I looked at Chad and he stood up and reached in his pocket (at this point the entire restaurant had gathered to see what I was going on). One of my co-workers gasped as he got on his knee and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him and he put the most beautiful ring on my finger!

I was so shocked I asked my boys if this was really happening and they both said, "Yes, Mom it really is!" I could not stop shaking and then the whole restaurant started clapping and a lot of my friends were crying.

Needless to say I took the rest of the day off and left the restaurant with my boys and my fiance! It was one of the most special days of my life and the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me!

"Wow, I love this guy!"

Tami Lovell, Marysville

When my boyfriend, Kevin, proposed to me, it was everything I could have dreamed of. We had been dating for two years and living 3,000 miles apart. I was attending law school in New York, and he was working here in Washington. In December 2001, I had just finished up the first semester of my last year of law school, and I had lived through the horrific events of Sept. 11. (I worked across the street from the World Trade Center). I couldn’t wait to get home to Washington to see my family and Kevin for the holidays.

I arrived at the airport on the night of Dec. 21, 2001, expecting Kevin to meet me and drive me up to Lake Stevens where my parents live. He told me that he wasn’t taking me home, but he wouldn’t tell me where we were going.

It turns out, he had asked my father’s permission to marry me the weekend before.

He exited near the First Hill area, and started driving up the hill. I couldn’t believe my eyes when he turned into the entrance of the Sorrento Hotel. If you have ever been there, you know that the historic hotel is straight out of a fairy tale. With a gated entrance, and gorgeous courtyard, and the building twinkling with Christmas lights, I felt like Cinderella arriving at the ball.

When we got up to our room, actually a small suite, I just wandered around admiring everything. There was soft music on the stereo, and it was so luxurious. While I was exploring the suite, Kevin had run off into the bedroom. I later learned that he ran away to get the ring out of his jacket without me noticing.

Then I saw that there was champagne and two glasses in one corner of the room. I asked him what the champagne was for, and when I turned around for his answer, he was down on one knee holding the ring, and he said, "Well, I thought that we could celebrate this."

Then he asked me to marry him. I just burst into tears of joy, laughing and crying at the same time, and ran over to hug him. I think I said yes through my tears, but there was never any question that I would marry him.

After we both calmed down a little, he presented me with a photo album/scrapbook that he had made with photos and memorabilia from all the years we had known each other. (We had known each other for eight years).

After calling both of our parents, I ran out into the hall, eager to tell someone we had just been engaged. The first person I saw was a hotel bellhop. I just thrust my hand in front of him, and yelled, "Look I just got engaged."

We were married on Dec. 28, 2002, and just celebrated our first anniversary.

Sarah Mack, Everett

When my husband and I started dating I was running a single-parent foster home. I had a 15-year-old, and 8- and 6-year-old girls. My husband had his 2-year-old girl.

He knew me as a friend for six years and decided the way to win my heart was to win my kids first. He started stopping by helping my kids with their homework and talking to me.

Eventually I decided to date him because my kids liked him so much and he was so awesome with them when a lot of people treated them like they didn’t exist.

When we got engaged I had four foster kids, two girls, ages 6 and 8, and two boys, ages 2 and 4. Donald brought over his daughter and was sitting on my couch. He turned and looked at me and asked, "Do you wanna?" I said, "Wanna what?" He replied, "Get married."

He told me that he loved me and my kids and wanted to make us all his. We were married less than three months later. That was almost four years ago.

We now have his daughter who is now 6, our 2-year-old son and our 11-month-old daughter.

My husband is now undergoing combat training for the Army and is being sent to Iraq in March for one year. When he gets back we plan on taking a late honeymoon cruise that we never got to go on due to raising our children.

Loriann Kreie, Stanwood

When my husband, Raymond M. Grainger, proposed he brought me red roses on one of which was attached an engagement ring and asked my father for "my hand in marriage."

My father’s response was, "She’ll have to answer that question!" We were married a short time later, May 7, 1949, in the First Baptist Church which was then on Lombard. We weren’t youngsters. Raymond served in the military in the India, Burma, China campaign and came home on a hospital ship with a severe case of yellow jaundice.

I’d finished college at the UW in 1948, couldn’t find work but finally got on for the North Coast Lines. A friend from his class in high school said she thought we’d make a good-looking couple, so I talked him into taking me to the ballet in Seattle and after that we started dating.

He passed away Dec. 21, 1978, after giving me five daughters.

He had collapsed at home after missing a couple of doctor’s appointments. He’d had time to call a daughter’s house next door, her husband came over because she has a day care home and found him on the floor. He called me and I said to get the aid car, I would meet them at the hospital. Our oldest daughter who was working for DSHS in the Everett office traveled with me to the general hospital. When doctor came out to talk to us he confirmed he passed away of heart disease.

Luella Grainger, Lake Stevens