Unlike the typical pilgrim at the Grotto on the campus of Notre Dame, Jim Vallerie did not plan on lighting any candles.
On September 19, 1997, the day before the Michigan State home football game, Vallerie brought his girlfriend of six months, Mary Catherine Summers, to the Grotto, saying he needed to meet a friend there. Summers had come to South Bend for the weekend from her home in Denver.
They arrived at the Grotto to find the friend already waiting. The three of them talked for a few minutes, and then the friend pulled out a copy of that day's student newspaper, The Observer.
"Hey, did you hear the latest about Notre Dame football in The Observer?" the friend asked Summers, handing her the paper, which was opened to an inside page. She looked at it and began reading a full-page ad in the form of a letter, addressed to her.
The text ended, "Hence it is Friday night at 8:30 p.m. and I am behind you at this moment on bended knee asking . . . ‘Will you marry me?'"
As Summers finished reading, Vallerie, on bended knee, proposed out loud. Summers said yes and started crying. The crowd at the Grotto, which included some of Vallerie's MBA buddies and many strangers as well, began clapping and cheering.
"It turned out better than I ever imagined," says Vallerie, who spent $360 on the ad.
A second-year MBA student from San Antonio, Vallerie began dating Summers last year when he was working in Denver. The couple plan to wed in July and live in South Bend while Vallerie finishes school.
