Emily Hamilton and Joshua Montiero plan to marry in 2017.
Camera IconEmily Hamilton and Joshua Montiero plan to marry in 2017. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Canning Vale couple goes back to school for marriage proposal

Pia van StraalenCanning Gazette

WHEN Emily Hamilton accepted Joshua Montiero’s marriage proposal it marked a new chapter in a love story spanning 16 years.

In 1999, the pair was among the foundation Year 5 class at Ranford Primary School in Canning Vale.

They sat next to each other, writing and performing songs; creating child hood memories most might forget.

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Eventually they became primary school ‘boyfriend and girlfriend’, a pairing short-lived, according to Ms Hamilton.

“The reason I broke up with him was because he tried to kiss me and I was so scared of boy germs,” she said.

The next year Ms Hamilton moved to study at Carey Baptist College, while Mr Montiero stayed at the primary school and the pair lost contact until they were 25.

“It wasn’t until I went to my mother’s church and I saw Emily there, she saw me, we made eye contact and I thought, ‘I want to know more about this girl’,” Mr Montiero said.

Mr Montiero never forgot about Ms Hamilton and when the opportunity to reconnect with her came, he took it.

“In Year 5 Emily gave me a balloon with ‘be my Valentine’ on the side and I somehow found it in an old box and when I asked her out, I gave her the balloon back,” he said.

Almost two years later, the romantic Mr Montiero planned an engagement the pair would never forget; on June 11, with the help of staff at Ranford Primary School, he proposed to Ms Hamilton on bended knee in Room 2 – the classroom where they met.

“I had friends cancel plans and I thought I’d make plans with Josh instead… thinking I was making all the plans everything fell into place and he picked me up from home in a suit and I thought nothing of it because he said he was on his way out anyway,” Ms Hamilton said.

Mr Montiero managed to talk his girlfriend into helping a family member in crisis, at the old school, and in the old classroom.

Once she stepped through, he dropped to his knee and proposed.

“I said ‘yes’, I was so shocked, I knew it was coming but I didn’t know when,” Ms Hamilton said.

“Josh is the same as he always was – sweet, kind and selfless… we always say we were each other’s first and we’ll be each other’s last.”