Andrew “Teddy” Nelson of Geneseo hoped Lesley Lohman would view a message on a Shell station marquee as a “sign” she should go to prom with him.
Nelson, a senior at Geneseo High School, recently had the message “Lesley Lohman Prom Teddy” placed on the marquee at the Express Lanes Shell station on the corner of Oakwood Avenue and Main Street.
“I’d been trying to think of creative ways to ask her,” said Nelson. “At first, I thought maybe I’d spell out ‘prom’ in pepperoni on a pizza and deliver it to her house, but then I came up with the idea for the marquee.”
Nelson said he originally wanted the message to appear on the Geneseo Chamber of Commerce’s sign on the State Street boulevard. “However, the chamber told me they like to reserve their board for business use only, but they suggested other marquees in town,” he explained.
That’s when he decided to approach the staff at Shell. “I think they were a little surprised I wanted to ask a date to prom using their sign, but they were very generous and nice,” he said.
The size of the Shell station sign limited the number of words Nelson could use, but he said the important things — “Her name, prom and my name” — were able to fit.
Nelson said the nickname “Teddy,” which he used on the sign, was bestowed upon him his freshman year. “I was in an engines’ class with a lot of seniors, and they thought I looked a bit like a teddy bear. They started calling me ‘Teddy,’ and then the rest of the school picked up on it,” he said.
Nelson’s prom invitation appeared on the Shell station sign on March 26, and Lohman learned of the message shortly after.
“A friend had driven by and seen it and then sent me a text message,” said Lohman.
After seeing the message herself, Lohman drove to Richmond Hill, where Nelson, a member of the high-school tennis team, was at practice.
“We were stretching as a team, and she came up and from the other side of the fence said, ‘yes,’ she’d go to prom with me,” said Nelson. “The other guys on the team all cheered, which was pretty cool.”
“I was very excited when I saw he’d asked me to prom. Teddy’s a really good friend of mine,” said Lohman. “It was all a big surprise, I had no idea he’d ask me.”
Since the message appeared at Shell, Nelson joked that his request has become “sort of the talk of the town.”
“I’ve had a lot of students and teachers at school ask if that was my sign, and I received a lot of text messages all asking, ‘What’d she say?’” he said.
Lohman said her friends were all very impressed with Nelson’s creativity. “They all thought the way he asked was a really good idea that only Teddy would come up with,” she said.
The pair are now gearing up to attend prom on May 2.
“I’m really excited about it,” said Lohman, who’s already purchased a red, floor-length dress for the dance.
“Prom is about making memories and spending time with your friends,” said Nelson.
Geneseo, Ill. —
