Merissa and Frederick Athans III Engagement Announcement

Merissa Strong, daughter of Raymond & Maria Strong of Loveland, CO, has become engaged to Frederick P. Athans III, son of Frederick P. Athans Jr. & Darla Elshire of Hill City, SD & Smithwick, SD.

Monday, September 17th 2018

Proposal

On August 19, Fred decided we should go up in the hills for a day out in his aunt and uncle’s side by side. After riding around for a couple hours and seeing this cave we thought possibly a big kitty cat could be in, we pulled over to have some lunch and chat like usual. He started to say Babe and as I looked towards him I could feel my heart and mind completely race. He finally asked Will you Marry Me? The words I’ve been waiting to here! My first response was “Are you serious right now?” (more of being excited and completely in utter shock), which I then proceeded to hug him and cry and said Of Course!

How They Met

About 5 years ago we were both on a dating website called Plenty of Fish, after exchanging messages and then phone numbers we hung out a few times. We always seemed to part ways due to life but we eventually after time apart we found each other again.