Cherise and John Evans Engagement Announcement

Cherise Hartmann, daughter of Damon & Cynthia Hartmann of Rapid City, has become engaged to John Evans Jr, son of Lisa Evans, John Evans Sr & Korina Evans (stepmom) of Rapid City and Black Hawk.

Saturday, October 10th 2020

Proposal

John and I had only been dating for nine months before he proposed to me in July, 2017.  John was very sneaky and asked one of our high school friends to help him with looking at engagement rings. He had also met with my dad the week before he proposed to me to ask for his blessing.
John and I like being outdoors and he has introduced me to lots of new things like hammock camping, night hiking and so much more. The night before John proposed to me, he had suggested going hammock camping. We hiked up Lost Cabin Trail 2 and eventually found a spot to put up the hammocks for the night. In the morning, he woke me up to see the sunrise and just relax and talk. We eventually packed up our stuff and hiked back down to my car and headed into town for some brunch. That afternoon we decided to take nap before we met some of is friends for dinner. After dinner, we met our high school friend; who i later found out helped him look at rings, on Skyline Dr to watch the sunset. After sunset, we decided to go to Old Storybook Island to set up the hammock again and enjoy more time together.
As we set up the hammock, John gave me one strap and carabiner while he took the other strap and hammock. After he got his strap and part of the hammock hung up, he walked over to me to give me the other part of the hammock but when he was right in front of me he pulled the ring box out of the hammock bag and got down on one knee. He looked at me and said, “Cherise, I talked to your dad, will you be my wife?” and I was so shocked that my jaw dropped and I just stood there unable to say anything for what felt like minutes before I finally answered with a big YES!
We took a few minutes to let what just happened sink in before we went home to tell our parents. I don’t think I stopped smiling for the next week at least, because I was so excited to be engaged to my best friend.

How They Met

John and I originally met in 3rd grade at South Canyon Elementary School and have been friends ever since. In 5th grade, John had an elementary school crush on me and he claims that we had even dated in 5th grade for a couple months. Throughout middle school, we remained friends but didn’t talk very much until high school. Just before homecoming Sophomore year of high school, John asked me to go to the homecoming dance with him and that is where we had our first kiss. The week after the dance, a friend of mine asked if we were dating so him and I kind of talked about it and decided to start dating, We dated for about two and a half years from Fall of Sophomore year until Spring of Senior year. John wanted to break up and just be friends because he was worried that if we started college as a couple that we would eventually grow apart trying to focus on school and friends and not have a great relationship like we had in high school. We reconnected during the Fall of our Sophomore year of college after John had invited me to party that one of his friend’s was having before HOBO Day; homecoming for SDSU. On our way home from the party, John told me that he still had feelings for me and told me that he regretted breaking up with with in high school. I was surprised when John told me how he still felt about me, but my feelings for him were still really strong so it was easy for me to consider giving it another try at dating. We started dating the week after the party we went to together and have never been happier!