From high flying to the low riding, have I got some marriage proposal ideas for you.
Anyone planning on popping the question on Valentine’s Day may appreciate these clever scenarios.
Neil Knutson, who lives in Smokey Point, received his pilot’s license in 1974. He asked another pilot to take his girlfriend, Charlotte McFarland, for a ride over Silvana.
"I grabbed another plane and pulled in beside them in tight formation," Knutson said. "We got on radios and talked to one another, and I asked Charlotte if she wanted to get married."
They were wing tip to wing tip over the Stanwood flatland at sunset, he said. When they landed, they found out that pilots from Olympia to Bellingham had been listening to the radio chatter.
Shelly Jury-Howard was on the ground, but over the moon, when she accepted a marriage proposal. On a lark, she answered a singles ad from a man looking for someone who enjoyed shooting darts, motorcycles and fun.
When her mystery man, Scott Howard, called, they talked for two hours.
"We met face to face the next Tuesday at Denny’s in south Everett, and it was magic," Jury-Howard said. "Scott wasn’t really looking for a ready-made family, as he has no children of his own, but I was a mom with two sons, Justin, then age 10, and Brad, 15. He came to pick me up for a ride on his GoldWing (motorcycle) the following weekend, met my parents and my sons, and it felt like we had always been together."
After three weeks of bliss, Jury-Howard called her new beau and left the following message: "You may as well ask me to marry you today, because we both know it is what we want."
Later that day, she stopped at his work place and sat on a porch while he mowed a lawn.
"He stopped the lawn mower, came over to me, hot, sweaty and covered in grass, got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife. It was awesome."
In these 8 1/2years together, Jury-Howard said, the couple finished raising their sons to be fine young men who have a dad in their life they are crazy about.
"I am a very lucky woman to be married to my best friend. When I tell people how we met, they are amazed. When they find out we married two months and eight days later, they are shocked."
By the way, Scott Howard sold the GoldWing last spring to buy his wife a computer.
Justin Bailey and Jocelyn Sievers, both track coaches at North Middle School in Everett, plan to be married in August. Bailey always dreamed about proposing on his grandparents’ beach on Orcas Island.
While visiting his grandmother, Gladys Brimhall, the couple settled by a bonfire after dinner. Bailey insisted they take walk.
"On our way down to the beach, a deer spotted us from the neighbor’s lawn," Sievers said. "I was so excited I would not stop talking about our great day. We got down to the private beach in front of his grandparents’ home and admired the color of the sky. The sunset was beautiful. I was collecting shells, throwing rocks in the water and talking, as usual. Poor Justin couldn’t get a word in edge-wise."
Suddenly, Bailey fell to one knee and asked Sievers to marry him. Sievers will have no trouble planning the Everett event. She has been a bridesmaid 15 times.
No matter how many times you say it, it’s a small world. I was in the same stadium, back in 1984, when Donald Anderson popped the question to his wife, then Carla Rossi. Don Anderson of Everett was a huge Seattle Sounders soccer fan, just like my husband, Chuck, and me. They were in the stands on July 6, 1984, when Pele played an exhibition game at Memorial Stadium in Seattle.
"At halftime, my husband reached his arm around the back of my shoulders and before me held a box with a beautiful engagement ring," Carla Anderson said. "He asked me to marry him right there in the stands. Of course, I said ‘Yes.’ It remains one of the happiest days of my life."
Later that night, after a waterfront dinner, while driving me home, Carla Anderson said she made him stop at a 7-11 so she could call her parents and buy a bride’s magazine.
"Nearly 17 years later, I view that day in Memorial Stadium as the most fortunate ever as I am married to the most- dedicated, loving, honorable man I know. He is an excellent father to our three children."
Carla Anderson keeps the July 6, 1984, ticket stubs in her jewelry box.
May you enjoy creating your own memories Feb. 14.
Kristi O’Harran’s Column appears Tuesdays and Fridays. If you have an idea for her, call 425-339-3451 or e-mail oharran@heraldnet.com.
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