Jill Meier of Winton, Minn., and Chad Houde of Ely plan to be married in June 2008.
Her parents are Dwayne and Donna Meier of Winton. His parents are Ronald and Jill Houde of Mounds View, Minn.
The future bride, a 2005 graduate of Ely Memorial High School, is pursuing a bachelor's degree in nursing from the College of St. Scholastica.
The future groom, a 1998 graduate of Irondale High School in Mounds View, graduated from the University of Minnesota-Crookston in 2002 with a bachelor's degree in natural resources. He is an Ely police officer.
Fishing for a spouse...
ADVERTISEMENT
Our first date last January was in an ice house on Shagawa Lake in Ely, so this became a special place for us. We couldn't wait to get back out on the ice again this winter because Chad received a new ice house from his family as an early Christmas gift. I had come home from college, and to celebrate my homecoming, we decided to go ice fishing on Dec. 20.
About 1 p.m., we had gotten situated and dropped our lines. It was a beautiful day so I just wanted to listen to the birds and the wind outside, but Chad insisted on listening to the radio. I couldn't get a station to come in and our dog Skeeter was starting to get wild, so I took him outside for a run. When I got back, Chad said he'd found a station. The station kept playing all my favorite songs from concerts that we had attended over the past year and I was so excited that I sang along. (It turned out Chad had slipped in a special CD he made, but I didn't catch on).
After about 30 minutes of no fish, Chad said he was going to change his lure. He got off his seat and down on his knees. Then he took out a miniature tackle box that opened up like a ring box. I thought he was just being silly and I said, "Hey, that would be a good idea for a proposal!"
And it was a proposal.
Among the little lures in the tackle box was a bag with my engagement ring inside. Chad carefully took it out and asked if I would marry him. I was so surprised that I didn't answer right away, so he had to ask again. After such an amazing and thoughtful proposal, of course I said "yes"!
-- Jill Meier
