Joyce Ashley’s knight in shining armor entered her life like a fairy book tale.
Ashley, a teller at Bank One in Clarkston, was surprised Dec. 10 by boyfriend Terry McNeil as he appeared at her work dressed as a knight, got down on one knee and asked that all important question.
She said yes and the couple are now planning a fall wedding.
A long time customer at Bank One, McNeil, owner of T&M Lawn Maintenance based in Clarkston, had his eye on Ashley for some time.
“I saw her and thought she was so pretty and thought I’d like to ask her out some time.”
The son of Donald and Alice McNeil of Evart, formerly of Waterford, McNeil was in the process of getting a loan for a motorcycle when he found the courage to ask a co-worker if Ashley would ever be interested in dating him.
“It was like high school,” McNeil, a Holly resident, laughed. “I mean, I’m 41.” But it was the start of a relationship, after McNeil got word Ashley, daughter of Keith and Ellen Marsh of Clarkston, was interested.
Ashley, of Fenton, was planning on telling McNeil he was approved for the loan when he took that opportunity to ask her out for the first time.
McNeil, a 1979 Clarkston High School graduate, and Ashley, a 1984 Clarkston High School graduate, had their first date Feb. 2, 2002.
In preparation for the date, McNeil wrote down movie times on a sheet paper which included Ashley’s phone number. He still carries that paper in his wallet with him today.
McNeil said, before they started dating, Ashley had told her son Joel (Ashley has three children, Joelle, Joel and Jaimee) there was someone she would’ve liked to go to a wedding reception with.
“It was me,” McNeil said. “I guess it was meant to be.”