After seeing some of his friends create elaborate prom-posals to ask their dates to the junior prom, 18-year-old Drew Holm decided to create a prom-posal of his own—unique not because of the handmade invitation he created, but because of the person he created it for: his 93-year-old great-grandmother, Katie Keith.
Keith, who was born in 1922, attended her prom at the same school, Crothersville Junior and Senior High School in Crothersville, Indiana, in 1940. And, while times have changed since her prom-going days, Keith says when her great-grandson told her he wasn’t planning to attend his prom, she knew she did not want him to miss out on making memories.
“I told (my great-grandmother) that I wasn’t going to prom because I could care less about going,” said Drew. “She said she had a dress she could wear to the prom and be my date. I took her serious.”
Keith says that although Drew asked her several times to be his prom date, she thought her great-grandson was joking until she came home to find a hand-made card on her door, inviting her to attend the prom with him.
Inside the invitation, Drew had written, “Every princess needs a tiara for the ball, will you be my princess for the prom?”
Keith told NBC News affiliate WAVE3 News that she told her grandson to find someone prettier to take as his date. His response? “I was like, 'No, I can't do that. You're the prettiest woman,’” Drew told WAVE3.
“How could I say no?” said Keith.
So Drew, who had to get special permission from his school to take Keith as his date due to a school rule saying guests must be 21 or younger, picked his great-grandmother up in his truck, gave her a corsage, and took her to prom.
“She is very special to me. It’s hard to pay her back for the things she has done and helped me with. I enjoy being with her,” Drew told TODAY Parents.
Kathie Rose is Drew’s mother and Keith’s granddaughter. Rose says she wasn’t surprised by her son’s request, as their family is very close.
“Drew is very close to her. He would do anything in the world for her if she would let him. (Keith) always said she would ride in the back seat on his dates and make sure they behave, and if not, she would get her cane out. She will tell anyone Drew is her boy,” said Rose.
So how has prom changed in 75 years? Keith, who has 7 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren and 3 great-great-grandchildren, says dressing up is the same but the dancing is different.
“The girls had formals and we had our Sunday best on because that’s all we had back then. We danced the waltz, four-step or jitterbug to a jukebox. Now, they have a DJ and they did line dancing. I told Drew I wish I was 10 years younger so I could do that because it looked fun,” said Keith.
Drew says he's surprised by the amount of responses he has received from people all over the world who are touched by his kindness.
“It was special that I got to take her…I have been able to show people that there is still good in the world. At the end of the day, though, I’m just a farm boy who took his great-grandmother to prom because he loves her.”