By Francis Quamina Farrier 

JUNE is the month of brides, and here is a story about love and marriage which is so romantic and which I know you will enjoy reading. The married couple whom I am featuring this week in a series of married couples, commenced their official life together as a committed couple, at over 30,000 feet above the Caribbean sea. They were on a flight from New York to Guyana.

I was also on the flight and was seated in the row directly in front of the couple. During the first leg of the flight which was from New York to Jamaica, I recognised romantic sounds emanating from the row directly behind mine. Deciding that it was none of my business, even though it was romantically titillating, I did not pay much attention.

However, sometime after the Fly Jamaica aircraft took off from the Norman Manley International Airport, Jamaica and levelled off above the Caribbean Sea on the second leg of its journey to Guyana, an announcement was heard on the PA system, inviting passengers to pay attention to an upcoming in-flight event. What it was, was totally unexpected.

The couple seated behind me stepped out from their seats and stood in the aisle. One of the flight attendants held a microphone close to the gentleman. He then went down on one knee and proposed marriage to the lady who was his travelling companion. There was an explosion of applause by the other passengers as the lady said “Yes” in a most romantic way.

Deque Gibbs and Felecia Johnson had become engaged to each other in a rather spectacular way. They were now committed to spending the rest of their lives together as man and wife. It was quite a unique proposal by a Guyanese which I have ever heard, and certainly, witnessed – at over 30,000 feet in the air.

Giving me the details sometime later, Deque Gibbs related his original meeting with Felecia Johnson, the woman who would become his wife and to whom he proposed marriage in such a unique way. “We meet July 13, 2014, as I was hosting my sister’s baby shower,” the gentleman later told me.

A native of Victoria Village on the East Coast of Demerara, Deque Gibbs further informed me how he got to know and become interested in Felecia Johnson. His cousin who was the DJ at the baby shower asked if he could come and assist him there.

That was in Brooklyn, New York. Relating the origins of her relationship with Deque Gibbs, Felecia Johnson explained her early interactions with Deque. “At the shower he tried to get my attention by hiding my shoes, turning the microphone off and trying to give me his flyer to attend his party of which he was helping to rebuild the school in his village Victoria [In Guyana].”

Continuing the romantic tale, she said, “At the end of the evening when he had noticed I wasn’t giving him any attention, he took a pen out of my hair and asked for my phone number.” That was no sham, since just a few hours later, she received a text which stated that he was home and hoped that she was also safely home as well.

It seemed that particularly caring act by Deque won the heart of Felecia. They got closer which led up to that up-in-the-air marriage proposal. The couple were married at a lavish ceremony in Brooklyn, New York, where they are now based. However, Deque has another love in his life – his home village of Victoria on the East Coast of Demerara.

He gives of his financial resources, contributing to projects in the village; maintenance of the community centre is one of them. For that and other activities, Deque has the full support of Felecia – the love of his life, who said “Yes” to his proposal of marriage at over 30,000 feet in the air.