SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — It’s not unusual for family and friends to welcome home a hero when returning to the Syracuse Hancock International Airport. That’s what U.S. Marine Corporal Jacob Everett was expecting as he came down the escalator with his girlfriend, Catherine Beamish.
Everett got down on one knee and popped the question. He got the answer he dreamed of.
“Catherine’s really hard to surprise because she’s very predictive,” Everett said.
Neither could predict they’d meet their soul mate down the thruway in 2019. Everett is from Skaneateles Falls. Beamish is from Baldwinsville. These two met at Rochester’s Jazz Fest. Music brought them together and then pulled them apart.
“I enlisted to be in the Marine Corps Band, and I played trombone basically for four years. And I missed her the entire time,” Everett said.
The signs they saw said “Welcome home,” but a surprise was about to be revealed.
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They especially missed each other during the pandemic when they weren’t allowed to see each other for seven months, even longer than they’d been together. But their love survived and thrived. Jake started concocting this proposal earlier this year while stationed in New Orleans.
“Well, he told me all week, ‘I feel so bad I never bought a ring, and you really expected me to have a ring by now?'” said Beamish.
She started guessing when it was coming…Thanksgiving, Christmas, maybe New Year’s? But never this or here.
“I definitely thought this was all for him. Everyone surprised you. That’s so sweet. They’re going to interview you for your service. That’s so nice, and he made it about the both of us,” Beamish said.
A return to the airport usually means the journey’s over. For Jake and Cate, it’s just beginning.
