Meredith and Lee met during the Fall Semester in 2016 at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW). Meredith was in her junior year and in her third semester of nursing school. Having received his Associate’s Degree in Biology from Coastal Carolina Community College (CCCC), Lee was new to UNCW to continue his education, majoring in Marine Biology and Environmental Sciences. Lee was a Resident Assistant (RA) in Belk Hall, which was the same freshman dorm that Meredith was assigned to as a new Desk Receptionist. Throughout the 2016 Fall Semester and into the 2017 Spring Semester, Meredith and Lee grew their friendship from being coworkers running into each other to being study buddies during late night study sessions in Randall Library. Unfortunately, during the 2017 Spring Semester, Lee became very sick, developing into pneumonia. By the third week of being out of class, Meredith reached out to Lee’s family to inform them of the seriousness of his illness. His family immediately traveled from Swansboro to bring him home to provide around-the-clock care. During this time, Lee and Meredith stayed in constant communication, realizing just how much they cared for each other. On May 19, 2017, Meredith had invited Lee to a Blue Angels Air Flight Show that she was attending with her family. It was there that Lee privately spoke with Meredith’s father, asking for his blessing to date his daughter. There, in the back of her father’s State Highway Patrol cruiser, Lee asked Meredith to be his girlfriend to which she excitedly said “Yes!”

Throughout the next few years of their relationship, Meredith and Lee were side by side as they accomplished many milestones together. Meredith graduated from UNCW with a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing in December 2017, and Lee graduated from UNCW with a Bachelor’s in Marine Biology and a Bachelor’s in Environmental Sciences in December 2018. Meredith passed the NCLEX nursing board exam in February 2018, and she has since been working as a Medical-Surgical staff nurse and traveling nurse in 8 different hospitals throughout North Carolina and Virginia. Lee continued his education even further by studying Cytotechnology at Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) and graduated with his certificate before passing the ASCP board exam in the summer of 2020. Lee relocated to Virginia where he first began as a Cytotechnologist at Mary Washington Medical Center in October 2020, and then he transferred jobs by accepting a Cytotechnologist position at the Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia in October 2021.

Throughout their five years of dating, Meredith and Lee witnessed Lee’s sister get married in 2017; bought a home together in 2021; watched Meredith’s sister graduate college in 2022; and welcomed the births of Lee’s niece, Hazel, in 2020, and nephew, Brantlee, in 2022. One of their hobbies includes riding around on Lake Caroline, Lake Anna, and Kerr Lake with their 1977 Galastron boat, pulled by their 1999 Dodge 3500!

In September 2022, Lee and Meredith traveled to New York City for a weekend getaway. There, on Saturday, September 3, Lee got down on one knee and proposed to Meredith near Bow Bridge atop a massive boulder overlooking Central Park. With the help of some friends secretly in cahoots with Lee’s proposal, this moment was captured forever in photos and on video to share with family back in North Carolina.

Now, having been together for over 7 years, Meredith and Lee are overjoyed and filled with much anticipated excitement as they plan their wedding, which will be held at the Birdsong Chapel at the Cornealius Properties in Goldsboro, North Carolina on Saturday, October 12, 2024.