When firefighter Chris Cunningham bought an engagement ring for
his girlfriend he had no idea the whole town would witness the
proposal on public access television.
When firefighter Chris Cunningham bought an engagement ring for his girlfriend he had no idea the whole town would witness the proposal on public access television.
“I never knew how I would do it,” he said. “I just assumed I would take her to Disneyland or something.”
Last winter, Cunningham was preparing for a badge pinning ceremony to become an official member of the fire department when his fellow firefighters learned the rookie had a diamond ring in his pocket. After that, he said, he knew the proposal was going to happen that night – whether he liked it or not.
“I was just sitting around talking with the guys about it, and within five minutes they had her dad on the phone,” he said. “With all the support from these guys, I just knew there was no way of getting out of it.”
Cunningham and his now fiancee, Maxine Chavez, dated since their junior year of high school. So it was no surprise to her father when he asked for her hand in marriage.
“He just told me I’m already part of the family and this is just the next step,” he said.
Chavez’s father told her mother, her mother called her sister and by the time Cunningham entered City Hall for the ceremony he realized quite an audience had gathered. A fourth-generation firefighter, Cunningham said the plan was to have his father pin his badge, but when he explained to him about the proposal, he agreed Chavez should do the pinning.
“He thought it was a great idea,” he said.
But when the moment came to ask Chavez to pin him, Cunningham said he became extremely nervous.
“I said something cheesy and as I went down on one knee she was just shocked,” he said. “Then as I turned and saw the audience it was like every women in the room was crying.”
In one night, Cunningham had finally earned the job he had wanted for three years and proposed to the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with – all this in front his co-workers, family, City Council members and the rest of the town through the local television station recording the meeting.
“We both knew one day we would get married, but there would always be something like we couldn’t afford a wedding or something else,” he said. “But that night it was like everything just fell into place.”
Christine Tognetti can be reached at 637-5566, ext. 330 or at [email protected].
