LOVE STORIES
Spring-break road trip set couple on path to altar

By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Staff Writer

The SoShawna Foster and Elton Gray story could have been one of those "will-they-or-won't they?" TV sitcoms.

Friends kept nudging the two of them, knowing they were meant for each other. They'd wonder. They'd hint. They'd outright tease.

But SoShawna, besides being four years older than Elton, wasn't sure what her plans were. She wasn't sure if she going to go to seminary. She wasn't sure she wanted to stay in Hawai'i.

They'd met their second semester of senior year in Bible college in California. He was planning to go back to Hawai'i right afterward.

"I noticed her, but I never gave it a thought of us dating," said Elton, a resident manager for Villages at Waipio who'd attended Kailua and Moanalua high schools. "I'd given up dating at Bible college. (I said,) 'It's my last year, I won't date.' "

Then came the fateful spring-break road trip to San Diego. Five friends squeezed into the car, and he was sitting next to her.

"She was the life of party in the car," Elton recalled. "I thought, 'This girl's pretty cool.' "

They stayed "just friends," chatting during choir practice, planning life after graduation. Before she started the master's program, SoShawna decided to take a break. She told this to Elton, strumming his 'ukulele at the time. He suggested she come to Hawai'i.

Hmmm. She thought. Hawai'i. She'd considered herself bohemian, an independent sort. Hawai'i sounded just outlandish enough.

Her mom, Anna Foster of Texas, remembers being at the graduation for SoShawna, baby of the family, and meeting this Tiger Woods lookalike who seemed extremely friendly.

"I didn't realize they were remotely interested in each other," her mom said. "He kept hovering around the family."

Mom's first impressions: "Didn't have anything to hide. Very likable. Dedicated to God."

On a lark, SoShawna looked into a temporary ministerial position helping out at Elton's church, New Life United Pentecostal Church on O'ahu. But that was just for six months. And besides, he was just a friend.

Just a friend, she kept telling her friends. Just a friend, she's tell herself. Just a friend, she told him.

But was he?

When she decided to stay in Hawai'i a little longer, the pastor teased her: because of Elton, huh?

That night, on the phone, she told him she was going to stay longer.

"I want you to know it has nothing to do with you," she told him, but remembers being glad she wasn't looking him in the eye when she said it.

During a later phone call, SoShawna asked Elton what was on his mind.

He decided it was finally time to dive in. What was on his mind?

"You."

(Insert harp music here.)

He had her at "you."

They've finally admitted they're more than just friends. He got her mother's permission to date her. Getting good reports from all factions of the big family, including SoShawna's siblings and nieces and nephews, Anna Foster gave it, as well as permission a year later for SoShawna's hand.

The wedding was yesterday, and they've pledged to save themselves until then.

So why did SoShawna keep pushing Elton away?

"I just knew," says SoShawna today.

"I hate that cliche. But it was a big deal because I knew I was really going to settle down and commit to this guy."

Tell your love story. To submit a story or wedding announcement for consideration, fax the details to 525-8055 or write to islandlife@honoluluadvertiser.com.