Love gives most people a warm fuzzy feeling, and that's exactly what Molly Doyle, of Grand Blanc, had when her boyfriend of 18 months led her to a window in Kettering's Campus Center to see his marriage proposal stomped into the snow of the Mott Engineering and Science Center Jan. 26.

He also got down on one knee to ensure she understood the message was intended for her.

Jason Muxlow, of Brown City, Mich., enlisted his roommate to stomp out the message while he kept Doyle busy. "The plan was to take her for a walk up to the fourth floor of the Campus Center on Friday evening, where she would see a freshly made message in the snow. I had one of my roommates write the message while we were out for the walk, just so that I knew it would be unscarred for her to see," said Muxlow.

To forego public speculation on the outcome of the proposal, Muxlow had his friend wait in the Mott building for the answer. "I would say it took Molly all of about a second to reply, but to be honest I wasn't counting," Muxlow said. "Afterwards I called my buddy who was waiting in the Mott Building to write YES in the snow next to it."

The public proposal was celebrated by friends and family who were waiting in the Great Court of the Campus Center. "I was somewhat expecting it as we had discussed getting married," said Doyle, "but despite that, he surprised me greatly in his timing and methods, especially with about 30 people in the Great Court waiting to greet us as we left our snowy proposal lookout," she added.

According to Muxlow, he had been waiting 18 months for this day. He knew she was THE ONE "the first time I talked to her," he said. She said the moment is harder for her to pinpoint, but everything added up to him being THE ONE for her.

"It is a mixture of meeting his family, seeing him interact with my nephew, sharing our faith with each other and experiencing the joy when I am with him and thinking about him," Doyle said.

They do agree on how they met and the details of their first date. They met in a Differential Equations class, commonly known as "DiffyQ" and generally considered one of the tougher classes to survive at Kettering. Doyle said their first meeting centered around handing back graded papers from the professor.

The first date was coffee and hot chocolate at Starbucks on a Saturday morning. Because Kettering is a small campus, news travels fast. Doyle's father, the late Dr. Daryl Doyle, professor of Chemistry at Kettering, knew about the date and teased Doyle about it. "My dad quizzed me about it afterwards saying 'How was your coffee date? Was it sweet? Was it hot?'" Doyle said.

With different majors, his is Mechanical Engineering and hers is Chemistry, they have only had a few classes together including Occupant Safety and Shakespeare. "It is tough because we spend most of our time together studying, and since we study different subjects, we hardly ever work on anything together academically," said Muxlow, "but we have always found ways to steal a few moments with each other."

"I believe our relationship has been strengthened by the demands from Kettering because we have had to deal with limited time together, distance over work term, and exhausting work loads," said Doyle, "we have been able to encourage each other and spend the time that we do have together in meaningful ways."

Some of that togetherness comes from shared interests. Both Doyle and Muxlow are members of the Engineers Without Borders A-Section group and Christians in Action. Doyle is also a member of Phi Eta Sigma Freshman Honor Society and Muxlow keeps busy as a member of the Firebirds Car Club, the Society of Automotive Engineers Clean Snowmobile Team, as editor-in-chief of the Technician student newspaper and as senior editor of Automotive Trends web site.

Set to graduate in March 2007, Doyle has already been accepted into the University of Michigan's Medicinal Chemistry Ph.D. program. Muxlow will graduate in September of 2007 and look for employment in the Ann Arbor area to be near Doyle.

"I would like to be near her so we can settle down for a while," he said. As for grad school he said "Not at this time, but I'm not ruling it out either. Honestly, my dream is to be an automotive journalist, but Kettering is far from my last stop in academia."

Like their courtship, the engagement will last about 18 months. The tentative wedding date is July 2008, with lots of Kettering representatives in the wedding party including Molly Hill (maid of honor), Kettering senior; Brandon Dye (best man), Central Michigan University; Nissa Doyle (the bride's older sister), Kettering graduate; Trista Doyle (the bride's younger sister), University of Michigan Ann Arbor; Andreos Kaplano, Kettering senior; Sarah Muxlow (groom's sister); John Heiser, Kettering graduate; and Luke Doyle (bride's brother).

Written by Dawn Hibbard
810-762-9865
dhibbard@kettering.edu