thedrifter
09-09-09, 08:51 AM
LINCOLN PARK: Marine surprises girlfriend with marriage proposal at football field where they met
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
By Jason Alley
LINCOLN PARK — A few years ago, all that Isiah Beauchamp cared about while running across the football field at Lincoln Park High School was scoring a touchdown and bringing a victory to his team.
When the 21-year-old Marine walked across it Thursday evening, however, none of those things mattered anymore.
While the former running back was still hoping to come off victorious, this win would come in a whole different way.
Home only two days after being deployed overseas, Beauchamp surprised his girlfriend, Daniela Jasso, with a marriage proposal at halftime of the varsity game that the Railsplitters lost to Roosevelt 46-7. The two are Lincoln Park graduates and met at a football game three years ago.
“When I was trying to think of something to come up with, I was like, ‘What could I do?’” he said. “I was thinking about taking her out to eat and doing whatever. And then I was like: ‘I don’t want to do that. I want it to be something crazy, ya know?’”
So, while still overseas, Beauchamp started tracking down Jasso’s friends to help set up a plan to carry out his surprise proposal.
Judging by the tears running down the bride-to-be’s face and the screams coming from the packed bleachers, everything seemed to come off like a charm.
“It was a total surprise,” Jasso said afterward. “My whole family was there. It was unbelievable.”
Earlier in the day, Beauchamp, a 2006 Lincoln Park graduate, told his girlfriend that he wasn’t going to be able to see her Thursday because he was going to be busy running errands and taking his mother to dinner.
Jasso, a 2007 graduate, was OK with that, she said, because she knew he was excited to be home and needed to spend time with his family. Plus, she had plans already that evening because some friends had convinced her to go to the football game for a girls’ night out.
As Jasso was sitting in the stands with her friends, she almost inadvertently ruined the surprise. Originally sitting on the home side, she decided to walk to the visitors’ side to talk to someone she thought was there.
Little did she know that’s where a lot of her friends and family were sitting, awaiting the big moment. They managed to blend in with the crowd and look away as she neared them.
Back on the home side, Jasso was missing her boyfriend and wishing he was there to enjoy the game with her.
“I (texted) him a picture of the football,” the 20-year-old said, now embarrassed to find out that he was there all along. “I was all like, ‘I’m over here at the game and I’m missing you.’”
Beauchamp received the message as he was hiding in the parking lot waiting for halftime. Nervous already, he said, that text message re-emphasized he was about to do the right thing.
As the clock ticked down to zero and the marching band took its place for its halftime performance, school Principal Kathy Evans took the microphone and announced to the crowd that a graduate was home from the military, and asked Beauchamp to step forward.
Dressed in full uniform, he walked across the football field amid cheers and a standing ovation from the crowd, which thought it was merely recognizing a hometown man for proudly serving his country.
As he took the microphone, he asked his girlfriend to come down and join him. As she jumped from the bleachers and ran to him, he got on one knee, opened a box holding her ring and asked her to marry him.
“I love you so much,” she quietly said to him, with tears streaming down her face.
Someone in the crowd yelled down, “She said yes, right?” Beauchamp gave a thumbs-up high in the air, causing the people in the bleachers to scream even louder as families from both sides rushed onto the field to congratulate the happy couple.
The reality of it all still hadn’t fully set in the next day as Beauchamp and Jasso smiled and teased one another, talking about what had just happened.
For just a second, Jasso initially was upset when she saw Beauchamp walking across the football field.
“I was wondering why he didn’t tell me he was going to be there,” she said. “I thought maybe he was going to talk about being in the Marines or something.”
As soon as he mentioned her name, though, Jasso knew something else was happening.
“When he asked if I could come down there, at that point, it hit me,” she said. “Oh my God. … I couldn’t stop shaking. I was hugging him and my legs were going numb. I couldn’t stop crying.”
While he might have looked confident walking across the football field, Beauchamp said he was anything but.
“You know when you get dizzy and you’re so nervous that you feel like you’re going to throw up? I swear that’s how it was,” he said. “That football field was like 300 yards when I was walking across. I was keeping my head down so I don’t get nervous when I see all the people.”
Beauchamp said it took dozens of people to pull off his stunt, but he couldn’t be more proud of the outcome.
“I can never surprise her with anything whatsoever,” he said. “This worked out.”
The couple first talked about getting married while Beauchamp was overseas.
“I was calling her and telling her that I want to be with her forever,” he said. “And she was all: ‘Well, I don’t know. We’re so young and stuff like that.’ … I felt like I owed her because she didn’t get the proposal that everyone else gets.”
While the topic had been broached before, Jasso said, she had no idea that it was going to be acted upon so quickly.
“We talked about it, but he never actually proposed,” she said. “I was so surprised when it happened. My family was so happy for me. They were crying. They really appreciate Isiah for all he’s done for me.”
Picking out the ring was the easiest part, Beauchamp said.
Since talk of marriage had come up before, Jasso went ring shopping with her mother and her soon-to-be mother-in-law. When Beauchamp’s mother learned of her son’s plans, she told him about the ring his fiancee fell in love with.
The eternity band contains 54 diamonds and a centerpiece that measures seventh-eighths of a carat.
While the two would have celebrated their three-year dating anniversary Oct. 8, they plan to make Sept. 10 their new date to remember — at least for now.
They are getting married Thursday at the Lucas County Courthouse in Toledo. It’ll be a small wedding for only a few friends and family. The quick move is being made so that Jasso can begin receiving the benefits offered by the military to spouses of service members.
A more elaborate wedding ceremony is set for July. A location hasn’t been selected.
Beauchamp has to report back to Camp Pendleton in California on Sept. 15, but he won’t be alone for long. Jasso is set to move there Sept. 26.
Having previously attended Wayne State University and Wayne County Community College District, Jasso plans to earn her degree from California State University San Marcos and become a dental hygienist.
With nearly two years under his belt, Beauchamp has another two left on his tour of duty. During those two years, the lance corporal is expected to be deployed again.
His last assignment sent him to a number of locations, including Hawaii, Kuwait, Dubai and Thailand.
Jasso said she’s come to grips — and now appreciates — the sacrifices made by military personnel.
“When Isiah told me he joined the military, all I could think about is that our relationship could be on the line, and, of course, of his safety,” she said. “When his first deployment came around, I was scared and sad that I wouldn’t be able to see him for seven months. The seven months were long but … I always kept my head up and knew my Marine would be home soon enough.”
Letters, e-mails and phone calls were the couple’s lifeline during Beauchamp’s first deployment. Those bonds kept the couple together, she said.
“I love that he’s doing so well in the military,” she said. “I am very supportive in what he does. We are a team, and I couldn’t be any happier.”
Contact Staff Writer Jason Alley at jalley@heritage.com or at 1-734-246-0867.
Ellie
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
By Jason Alley
LINCOLN PARK — A few years ago, all that Isiah Beauchamp cared about while running across the football field at Lincoln Park High School was scoring a touchdown and bringing a victory to his team.
When the 21-year-old Marine walked across it Thursday evening, however, none of those things mattered anymore.
While the former running back was still hoping to come off victorious, this win would come in a whole different way.
Home only two days after being deployed overseas, Beauchamp surprised his girlfriend, Daniela Jasso, with a marriage proposal at halftime of the varsity game that the Railsplitters lost to Roosevelt 46-7. The two are Lincoln Park graduates and met at a football game three years ago.
“When I was trying to think of something to come up with, I was like, ‘What could I do?’” he said. “I was thinking about taking her out to eat and doing whatever. And then I was like: ‘I don’t want to do that. I want it to be something crazy, ya know?’”
So, while still overseas, Beauchamp started tracking down Jasso’s friends to help set up a plan to carry out his surprise proposal.
Judging by the tears running down the bride-to-be’s face and the screams coming from the packed bleachers, everything seemed to come off like a charm.
“It was a total surprise,” Jasso said afterward. “My whole family was there. It was unbelievable.”
Earlier in the day, Beauchamp, a 2006 Lincoln Park graduate, told his girlfriend that he wasn’t going to be able to see her Thursday because he was going to be busy running errands and taking his mother to dinner.
Jasso, a 2007 graduate, was OK with that, she said, because she knew he was excited to be home and needed to spend time with his family. Plus, she had plans already that evening because some friends had convinced her to go to the football game for a girls’ night out.
As Jasso was sitting in the stands with her friends, she almost inadvertently ruined the surprise. Originally sitting on the home side, she decided to walk to the visitors’ side to talk to someone she thought was there.
Little did she know that’s where a lot of her friends and family were sitting, awaiting the big moment. They managed to blend in with the crowd and look away as she neared them.
Back on the home side, Jasso was missing her boyfriend and wishing he was there to enjoy the game with her.
“I (texted) him a picture of the football,” the 20-year-old said, now embarrassed to find out that he was there all along. “I was all like, ‘I’m over here at the game and I’m missing you.’”
Beauchamp received the message as he was hiding in the parking lot waiting for halftime. Nervous already, he said, that text message re-emphasized he was about to do the right thing.
As the clock ticked down to zero and the marching band took its place for its halftime performance, school Principal Kathy Evans took the microphone and announced to the crowd that a graduate was home from the military, and asked Beauchamp to step forward.
Dressed in full uniform, he walked across the football field amid cheers and a standing ovation from the crowd, which thought it was merely recognizing a hometown man for proudly serving his country.
As he took the microphone, he asked his girlfriend to come down and join him. As she jumped from the bleachers and ran to him, he got on one knee, opened a box holding her ring and asked her to marry him.
“I love you so much,” she quietly said to him, with tears streaming down her face.
Someone in the crowd yelled down, “She said yes, right?” Beauchamp gave a thumbs-up high in the air, causing the people in the bleachers to scream even louder as families from both sides rushed onto the field to congratulate the happy couple.
The reality of it all still hadn’t fully set in the next day as Beauchamp and Jasso smiled and teased one another, talking about what had just happened.
For just a second, Jasso initially was upset when she saw Beauchamp walking across the football field.
“I was wondering why he didn’t tell me he was going to be there,” she said. “I thought maybe he was going to talk about being in the Marines or something.”
As soon as he mentioned her name, though, Jasso knew something else was happening.
“When he asked if I could come down there, at that point, it hit me,” she said. “Oh my God. … I couldn’t stop shaking. I was hugging him and my legs were going numb. I couldn’t stop crying.”
While he might have looked confident walking across the football field, Beauchamp said he was anything but.
“You know when you get dizzy and you’re so nervous that you feel like you’re going to throw up? I swear that’s how it was,” he said. “That football field was like 300 yards when I was walking across. I was keeping my head down so I don’t get nervous when I see all the people.”
Beauchamp said it took dozens of people to pull off his stunt, but he couldn’t be more proud of the outcome.
“I can never surprise her with anything whatsoever,” he said. “This worked out.”
The couple first talked about getting married while Beauchamp was overseas.
“I was calling her and telling her that I want to be with her forever,” he said. “And she was all: ‘Well, I don’t know. We’re so young and stuff like that.’ … I felt like I owed her because she didn’t get the proposal that everyone else gets.”
While the topic had been broached before, Jasso said, she had no idea that it was going to be acted upon so quickly.
“We talked about it, but he never actually proposed,” she said. “I was so surprised when it happened. My family was so happy for me. They were crying. They really appreciate Isiah for all he’s done for me.”
Picking out the ring was the easiest part, Beauchamp said.
Since talk of marriage had come up before, Jasso went ring shopping with her mother and her soon-to-be mother-in-law. When Beauchamp’s mother learned of her son’s plans, she told him about the ring his fiancee fell in love with.
The eternity band contains 54 diamonds and a centerpiece that measures seventh-eighths of a carat.
While the two would have celebrated their three-year dating anniversary Oct. 8, they plan to make Sept. 10 their new date to remember — at least for now.
They are getting married Thursday at the Lucas County Courthouse in Toledo. It’ll be a small wedding for only a few friends and family. The quick move is being made so that Jasso can begin receiving the benefits offered by the military to spouses of service members.
A more elaborate wedding ceremony is set for July. A location hasn’t been selected.
Beauchamp has to report back to Camp Pendleton in California on Sept. 15, but he won’t be alone for long. Jasso is set to move there Sept. 26.
Having previously attended Wayne State University and Wayne County Community College District, Jasso plans to earn her degree from California State University San Marcos and become a dental hygienist.
With nearly two years under his belt, Beauchamp has another two left on his tour of duty. During those two years, the lance corporal is expected to be deployed again.
His last assignment sent him to a number of locations, including Hawaii, Kuwait, Dubai and Thailand.
Jasso said she’s come to grips — and now appreciates — the sacrifices made by military personnel.
“When Isiah told me he joined the military, all I could think about is that our relationship could be on the line, and, of course, of his safety,” she said. “When his first deployment came around, I was scared and sad that I wouldn’t be able to see him for seven months. The seven months were long but … I always kept my head up and knew my Marine would be home soon enough.”
Letters, e-mails and phone calls were the couple’s lifeline during Beauchamp’s first deployment. Those bonds kept the couple together, she said.
“I love that he’s doing so well in the military,” she said. “I am very supportive in what he does. We are a team, and I couldn’t be any happier.”
Contact Staff Writer Jason Alley at jalley@heritage.com or at 1-734-246-0867.
Ellie