Haleigh Kump & Evan Smith
July 28, 2020
Haleigh and Evan came together via a chance meeting at a Nationals’ baseball game in Washington, DC (where both were living and working at the time). One could say their meet-cute was a home run, because the relationship took off from there. Each year, Haleigh and her family spend a week at Bethany Beach, Delaware, in the home her late grandfather and his best friend purchased in the 1980s. Knowing this to be Haleigh’s favorite place on Earth, Evan figured there was no better place to propose. When Evan suggested an evening walk, he was nervous the beach would be crowded. As luck would have it, the shore was virtually empty—as if it had cleared out just for them—and he asked Haleigh to be his wife as the sun dipped below the horizon. They had planned to hold the wedding in Maryland, but not wanting to wait owing to the pandemic, the pair gathered with their immediate family, including their dog, Chester, at Evan’s parents’ home in Ohio. In the backyard, Evan’s father officiated the ceremony and married his son to the love of his life. The couple lives in Greenville, where Haleigh works as an accountant and Evan as a journalist at our own Community Journals.
