LOVE STORIES
Passion continues to grow for prom pair

By Tanya Bricking Leach
Advertiser Staff Writer

Alden and Ellen Gilroy, both 22, were married May 23 in an outdoor ceremony at Foster Point, Hickam Air Force Base. Dylan Dawson Photography

So she thumbed through her yearbook, scanning class photos for potential escorts.

Her finger landed on Alden Yong Gilroy. He was the one, she thought. He was the one she wanted to be her prom date.

So she did what any brave high school girl would do. She enlisted the help of a girlfriend. The plan was for her friend to "bump into" Gilroy in English class and ask if Villacorta had asked him to prom yet, because she heard Villacorta wanted to go with him. The scheme worked.

And that is how Gilroy ended up asking Villacorta to be his prom date.

She wore a red satin gown her mother made, and Gilroy sported a tux with a matching red tie.

It was the beginning of something special.

"We dated ever since," he said.

She was from a Navy family and he was from an Air Force one. She was the country girl and he the city guy.

She remembers their first kiss: May 28, 2000, two days after graduation, right in front of her house when he dropped her off from a date.

"I guess it was because of the first kiss" that she knew it was right, she said.

Their courtship "was just a whole bunch of adventures," she said.

He introduced her to scuba diving, a love of films and traveling. She taught him Filipino farming techniques and how to be a better dresser.

They were each other's first love, and they stayed together while Villacorta studied speech pathology and audiology at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa and he pursued computer science at Hawaii Pacific University.

Their longest time apart was in the summer of 2002, when Gilroy went off to Air Force boot camp for five weeks. They knew how much they hated spending any time apart.

So, one day when Villacorta was having a particularly bad day, Gilroy brightened it by proposing ... in a note.

Villacorta had stopped by his apartment, and he wasn't home. But there was a note on the television. There was an arrow pointing down to Cheese and Cheddar, the two mice she had given him for his 21st birthday. In the note, he asked her to marry him. And the engagement ring was on top of the mice cage. She cried (happily) and accepted.

On May 23, she wore a white gown and he sported a tux with a crisp white tie to match his bride.

The 22-year-olds married in an outdoor ceremony at Foster Point at Hickam Air Force Base and had a reception later that day at the Hale Koa Hotel.

They moved last week to Maryland, where Gilroy is a communications officer stationed at Andrews Air Force Base.

"We like calling it the beginning of our world tour," Ellen Gilroy said. She's looking forward to the changing seasons and is taking life changes in stride.

"If anything, I just love it that I found him," she said. "He's my first boyfriend. We got it right the first time. It makes me giddy just thinking about it."

Tanya Bricking Leach writes about relationships. If you'd like her to tell your love story next, write to tleach@honoluluadvertiser.com, call 525-8026 or mail your photo and details to Love Stories, The Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802.